Platsia, Aikaterini-Foteini;
(2022)
Contextualising emotion regulation: A mixed-methods approach to understanding the mechanisms through which emotion controllability beliefs influence adolescent anxiety.
Doctoral thesis (D.Ed.Psy), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Given the developmental challenges and opportunities encountered during adolescence and the current COVID-19 context, it seems particularly important to consider protective factors for adolescent mental health, especially anxiety. One such factor relates to the beliefs adolescents hold about whether they can control their emotions. One mechanism for explaining the link between emotion controllability beliefs and anxiety may be emotion regulation. Believing that emotions can be controlled may encourage the use of ‘healthy’ (over ‘unhealthy’) emotion regulation strategies, which can, in turn, lead to better mental health outcomes. Recent revisions to the most widely used process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2015) suggest that emotion controllability beliefs influence not only emotion regulation choice but the whole emotion-generative-and-regulation process. Research has, however, rarely examined what happens in the different stages of the emotion regulation process (other than the stage of strategy selection), or why certain strategies are preferred over others. Further, theory and research have mainly focused on intra-personal emotion regulation processes, despite emotion regulation often occurring in a social context and likely being influenced by it. The present study aimed to examine the relationships between adolescent emotion controllability beliefs, emotion regulation, and anxiety; explore the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of emotion regulation processes, and investigate aspects of the interpersonal context perceived as helpful/hindering in the regulation of anxiety. Year 9 - 11 students recruited from 10 English secondary schools completed questionnaires (n=81) examining the relationships between emotion controllability beliefs, emotion regulation, and anxiety, and semi-structured interviews (n=10) exploring intra- and inter-personal emotion regulation processes. Quantitative findings demonstrated an indirect effect of emotion controllability beliefs on anxiety via ‘healthy’ emotion regulation. Thematic analysis elicited six themes: manifestations of anxiety; negative views around anxiety; individual, contextual, and interpersonal factors (affecting emotion regulation choices); and emotionally-containing environments. Implications for emotion regulation theory, Educational Psychology (EP) practice, mental health assessment and intervention, and educational practices are presented and discussed.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | D.Ed.Psy |
| Title: | Contextualising emotion regulation: A mixed-methods approach to understanding the mechanisms through which emotion controllability beliefs influence adolescent anxiety |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author's request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10153445 |
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