Distractive emotion regulation, which relieves arousal through attention shift, protects individuals from strong stress. Distractive emotion regulation is widely used in everyday life and although it has great implications in the context of adaptation such as to addiction, it is generally not considered separately from avoidant regulation, it has neither been clearly defined nor measured.

Through a literature review and qualitative analysis, we selected adults’ distractive emotion regulation behaviors. We explored the construct by developing measurement on the distractive behaviors that adults use to regulate emotion.

Factor analysis revealed that distractive emotion regulation consisted of four factors: “consumption distraction” concerned with activities such as shopping, internet use, and TV viewing; “arousal control distraction” related to activities such as exercise, bathing, and deep breathing; “reserving distraction” pertaining to activities such as eating, sleeping, and listening to music; and “aggressive distraction” involving behaviors such as bullying, physical destructiveness, or cursing. Each factor had a different correlation with stress coping dimensions and subjective well-being.

Distractive emotion regulation is a multidimensional concept composed of sub-factors with different functions and clinical implications in daily life.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategy on the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and depression, and between emotion malleability beliefs and anxiety in Individuals with GAD (Generalized anxiety disorder) symptoms.

The 103 individuals with GAD symptoms respond to the questionnaires measuring emotion malleability beliefs, cognitive emotion regulation strategy, depression, anxiety.

Data from this study show that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy mediates the effect of emotion malleability beliefs on depression and anxiety. Adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy has no mediating effect on them.

These results suggest that making the individuals with GAD have emotion malleability beliefs or educating them on emotion regulation strategy may not be enough. Therefore, practical intervention is needed in the overall emotion regulation. Finally, this paper includes implications, limitations, and suggestions for the future study.

This study investigates the function of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between emotional clarity and emotion regulation and examines the differential effect between belief and ability for cognitive flexibility on them.

The 151 participants respond to the questionnaires measuring emotional clarity, emotion regulation, and cognitive flexibility, which is also measured by task reflecting on real ability.

Data from this study show that self-reported cognitive flexibility mediates the effect of emotional clarity on emotion regulation. Cognitive flexibility measured by task has no mediating effect on them.

These results suggest the cognitive flexibility play a role in the mechanism linking emotional clarity to emotion regulation and belief of own’s ability to cope flexibly is more important than real ability. Finally, this paper includes implications, limitations, and suggestions for the future study.

The purposes of this study were to identify the relationships among post-traumatic growth, trauma experience, cognitive emotion regulation (adoptive and maladoptive) and to determine the influences on post-traumatic growth in nurses.

The participants were 105 nurses in Chung-Nam and Gyeonggi-do. Some variables related to post-traumatic growth, trauma experience, cognitive emotion regulation were measured using reliable instruments.

There showed significant positive relationships of post-traumatic growth with adoptive cognitive emotion regulation. Among predictors, adoptive cognitive emotion regulation, career and position had statistically significant influence on post-traumatic growth.

These results suggest that intervention on post-traumatic growth that targets the adoptive cognitive emotion regulation may be helpful in enhancing post-traumatic growth in nurses.

The purpose of present study was to examine a relation between internalized shame and adaption to college life of Chinese international students and to identify a moderating role of adaptive cognitive emotion regulation on this relation. 

A sample of 173 Chinese international students in Seoul was recruited to answer the questionnaires of internalized shame, adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (acceptance & positive reappraisal) and adaption to college. 

Internalized shame showed a significant negative correlation with adaption to college. So, the higher internalized shame was, the lower adaption to college showed. And the internalized shame was negative effect on level of adaption to college when level of acceptance was high, but the effect of internalized shame on adaptation to college was disappeared when level of acceptance was low. The similar result was also found in positive reappraisal. So, the moderating effect of acceptance and positive reappraisal on the relation between internalized shame and adaption to college was confirmed.

These results suggest that during clinical intervention, practitioners should consider internalized shame as a risk factor and cognitive emotion regulation as a protective factor when dealing with foreign students’ adaption in college.