Abstract
The article addresses the phenomenon of emotion regulation (ER) among university students. Theoretically, our research is based on Gross’s process model of emotion regulation (PMER). This model exemplifies a cognitive approach to the emotion generation and regulation, because a cognitive factor, namely appraisal, is assumed as mediator between stimulus and response. From the cognitive perspective, among different appraisals, interpretation of situation, perception or active goals of ER and applied strategies of ER are of great importance. Our research aims to reveal how working university students perceive the ER process. To achieve this objective, we have set the following research questions: (1) how do university students recognize situational triggers of emotions (2) how do they perceive their goals of ER; finally, (3) how do they perceive strategies they apply in ER? Methodologically, a qualitative design is implemented in the current research. We use solicited diaries as a data collection method, and thematic analysis as a data analysis method. Sample of our research comprises 18 working undergraduates of a Lithuanian university. Our major findings are that (1) characteristics of other people are the emotion triggers most frequently identified; (2) prohedonistic and instrumental goals are the most frequently identified ER goals; (3); attentional deployment and suppression of emotions are the most frequently used ER strategies among the participants. An important implication of the research is that students focus more on short-term goals and less on long-term quality of life when regulating their emotions. This can provide useful guidance when choosing intervention options.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Saulius, T., Malinauskas, R. Working students’ perceptions of the emotion regulation process. A qualitative study. Curr Psychol 43, 10825–10838 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05214-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05214-8