Role of Emotion Regulation as a Buffer against Workplace Stress among Nurses during COVID-19

The present study examined the relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction among nurses along with exploring the moderating role of emotional regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 120 (n=60 male, n=60 female) nurses were approached from different public and private hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The Workplace Stress Scale, The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were used to assess workplace stress, job satisfaction, and emotion regulation abilities among nurses. Pearson product-moment correlation and Linear regression analysis were carried out to measure the relationship of workplace stress with job satisfaction and the moderating effect of emotion regulation, respectively. Findings of the study revealed that workplace stress is negatively associated with job satisfaction among nurses. Moreover, moderation analysis indicated that cognitive reappraisal significantly moderated the relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction. Other key findings of the study indicated that female nurses were higher on workplace stress and used cognitive reappraisal as compared to male nurses who used expressive suppression. Moreover, married nurses were higher on workplace stress as compared to unmarried nurses. Public sector nurses were higher on job satisfaction. The findings of the study suggest that there is a strong need to reduce workplace stress by developing healthy emotion regulation strategies to increase the level of job satisfaction among nurses, especially during this pandemic environment.

Impact of psychological contract breach on police corruption in Nigeria: The moderating role of emotion regulation strategies

Using insight from social exchange and conservation of resources theories, the present study address the void in the literature on the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and police corruption, and investigates the moderating role of emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in the relationship. Data were collected from 391 (198 male and 193 female) police personnel in various police divisions in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The results of moderated hierarchical regression analysis showed that PCB ( β = .17, p < .05) and expressive suppression ( β = .22, p < .01) were positively related to police corruption. However, cognitive reappraisal ( β = −.26, p < .05) was negatively associated with police corruption. Finally, whereas cognitive reappraisal ( β = −.10, p < .05) buffers the positive relationship between PCB and police corruption, expressive suppression exacerbates this relationship ( β = .19 , p < .01). These findings suggest the need for cognitive reappraisal training for police personnel.

Social Support Predicts Differential Use, But Not Differential Effectiveness, of Expressive Suppression and Social Sharing in Daily Life

While emotion regulation often happens in the presence of others, little is known about how social context shapes regulatory efforts and outcomes. One key element of the social context is social support. In two experience sampling studies (Ns = 179 and 123), we examined how the use and affective consequences of two fundamentally social emotion regulation strategies—social sharing and expressive suppression—vary as a function of perceived social support. Across both studies, we found evidence that perceived social support predicted variation in people’s use of these strategies, such that higher levels of social support predicted more sharing and less suppression. However, we found only limited and inconsistent support for context-dependent affective outcomes of suppression and sharing: suppression was associated with better affective consequences in the context of higher perceived social support in Study 1, but this effect did not replicate in Study 2. Taken together, these findings suggest that the use of social emotion regulation strategies appears to depend on contextual variability in social support, whereas their effectiveness does not. Future research is needed to better understand the circumstances in which context-dependent use of emotion regulation may have emotional benefits, accounting for personal, situational, and cultural factors.

Mindfulness-Based Online Intervention Increases Well-Being And Decreases Stress After Covid-19 Lockdown

Mindfulness interventions were shown to be effective in improving well-being and reducing perceived stress in several conditions. These effects were also found in online mindfulness-based training, especially on employees in organizational environments. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of online mindfulness intervention on healthy employees especially after the first Italian Covid-19 lockdown.Participants in the intervention group underwent an 8-week mindfulness online training program based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) protocol compared to a control (no-intervention) group. All participants filled in weekly surveys for the whole intervention duration via online questionnaires to measure their habits, mindfulness (FFMQ-15), emotion regulation (ERQ), positive and negative affect (PANAS), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21), resilience (RSA) and insomnia (ISI). 46 participants in the intervention group and 54 in the control group completed at least half of the weekly questionnaires and were considered in the longitudinal analyses. We found significant differences between the intervention and control groups over time in the measures of mindfulness (in particular the nonreactivity subscale), positive affect, depression, and insomnia. Moreover, we found that the frequency of practice and ease perceived in practicing were positively correlated to several indices of well-being (mindfulness, positive affect, cognitive reappraisal) and negatively correlated to several indices of stress (negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, expressive suppression). These results show the importance and effectiveness of online mindfulness training programs to cope with stress among employees, especially after the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Influence of Residents' Emotion Regulation on Mental Health during the Epidemic of COVID-19: Family Functioning as a Mediator

Objective: To Explore the relationship between residents' family relationship, emotion regulation mode, and mental health during the epidemic of COVID-19. Method: an online survey was conducted, and 209 residents' were investigated with The FACES II-CV, ERQ, and SCL-90. Results: (1)The total score of SCL-90 of residents was significantly negatively correlated with family relationship intimacy, adaptability, and cognitive reassessment and significantly positively correlated with expressive suppression. (2)Family relationship adaptability significantly predicts the Total score of SCL-90, explaining 21.8% of the variance. (3)The two factors of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression of emotion regulation significantly predict the total score of SCL-90, accounting for a total of 8.8% of the variance. (4)The adaptability of family relationships mediates the effect of emotion regulation on mental health. Specifically, the mediating effect of family relationship adaptability on the path of cognitive reassessment factors on mental health is -0.508. The mediating effect of family relationship adaptability on the path of expression inhibitors on mental health is 0.393.

Daily Assessment of Executive Functioning and Expressive Suppression Predict Daily Functioning among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Objective: Executive functioning (EF) is known to be associated with performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). However, prior research has found that the degree to which EF fluctuates was more predictive of self-reported cognitive and IADL lapses than was average EF performance. One source of such EF fluctuations is engagement in an emotion regulation strategy known as expressive suppression (ES). Importantly, ES has also been shown to relate to IADL performance, presumably due to its impact on EF. However, past research is limited due to assessing IADLs only in the laboratory or via self-report. The present study examined (a) the association of daily EF and ES fluctuations with performance of actual IADL tasks in participants’ homes, and (b) whether any significant association between ES fluctuations and daily IADLs would be mediated by daily EF variability. Method: Participants were 52 older adults aged 60 to 95. Over the course of 18 days while at home, participants completed daily IADL tasks as well as daily measures of EF and ES via ecological momentary assessment. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, average EF across days predicted at-home IADLs above and beyond daily EF variability, which itself was also predictive. ES variability also predicted daily IADLs, and this association was fully mediated by average daily EF. Conclusions: Daily fluctuations in ES appear to have a deleterious impact on performance of IADLs at home, likely due to the impact of such fluctuations on EF, although the average level of EF capacity is also important.

Do cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression mediate the effect of emotion motives on mood outcomes?

<p>The present investigation was designed to assess whether the emotion regulation strategies of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal would mediate the relationships between emotion motives (trying to experience and trying to avoid experiencing positive and negative emotions) and mood outcomes (subjective happiness and depressive symptoms). A sample of 257 first-year psychology students completed questionnaires on emotion regulation and levels of subjective happiness and depressive symptom levels in a concurrent study. As predicted, trying to experience positive emotions positively predicted use of cognitive reappraisal, which, in turn, predicted greater levels of subjective happiness and lower levels of depressive symptoms and trying to avoid experiencing negative emotions positively predicted use of expressive suppression, which, in turn, predicted greater levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of subjective happiness. In one other mediational pathway, the motive of trying to experience negative emotions positively predicted use of expressive suppression, which was associated with lower levels of subjective happiness and greater levels of depressive symptoms. These results add to the existing emotion regulation research literature by shedding light on what motivates the use of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. In sum, individuals’ hedonic motives encouraged adaptive emotion regulation efforts, whereas, individuals’ contra-hedonic motives encouraged the use of maladaptive emotion regulation efforts. These findings will be of assistance to clinicians in the development of interventions to improve emotion regulation problems in clients.</p>

Do cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression mediate the effect of emotion motives on mood outcomes?

<p>The present investigation was designed to assess whether the emotion regulation strategies of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal would mediate the relationships between emotion motives (trying to experience and trying to avoid experiencing positive and negative emotions) and mood outcomes (subjective happiness and depressive symptoms). A sample of 257 first-year psychology students completed questionnaires on emotion regulation and levels of subjective happiness and depressive symptom levels in a concurrent study. As predicted, trying to experience positive emotions positively predicted use of cognitive reappraisal, which, in turn, predicted greater levels of subjective happiness and lower levels of depressive symptoms and trying to avoid experiencing negative emotions positively predicted use of expressive suppression, which, in turn, predicted greater levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of subjective happiness. In one other mediational pathway, the motive of trying to experience negative emotions positively predicted use of expressive suppression, which was associated with lower levels of subjective happiness and greater levels of depressive symptoms. These results add to the existing emotion regulation research literature by shedding light on what motivates the use of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. In sum, individuals’ hedonic motives encouraged adaptive emotion regulation efforts, whereas, individuals’ contra-hedonic motives encouraged the use of maladaptive emotion regulation efforts. These findings will be of assistance to clinicians in the development of interventions to improve emotion regulation problems in clients.</p>