The role of emotion regulation in mental health during the COVID‐19 outbreak: A 10‐wave longitudinal study

Abstract

Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic elicited a lot of concerns among citizens, thereby potentially compromising their well‐being. This study sought to examine the role of individuals' emotion regulation styles (i.e., emotional dysregulation, emotional suppression, and emotional integration) in handling these concerns and their experiences of well‐being (i.e., satisfaction with life and sleep quality) and ill‐being (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms). The study had a unique 10‐wave longitudinal design ( N = 986; M age = 41.28; 76% female) and was conducted during the outbreak of the pandemic in March–May 2020. Multilevel analyses showed, first, that weekly variation in COVID‐19 related concerns related negatively to weekly variation in well‐being and positively to weekly variation in ill‐being. Second, at the between‐person level, emotional dysregulation and suppression related positively to between‐person vulnerability in ill‐being and lower well‐being (across all waves). Third, between‐person differences in emotional dysregulation amplified the strength of the within‐person association between concerns and depressive complaints and lowered life satisfaction. Unexpectedly, integrative emotion regulation amplified the strength of the within‐person association between concerns and anxiety. The discussion focuses on the critical role of emotion regulation in handling the uncertainty elicited by the pandemic and provides directions for further research.