Emotion Regulation and Mental Health: Emotional Overcontrol and Undercontrol as Predictive Variables in Peruvian College Students

Abstract

The emotional over-control and under-control traits as predictive factors based on contemporary psychotherapeutic perspectives are relatively scarce proposals in current scientific literature. This study aimed to determine the predictive quality that these personality traits have on cognitive emotional regulation strategies and symptoms of anxiety and depression in Peruvian college students. 353 people participated as a sample (M= 19.77 years, SD= 2.08, females = 67.7%, males = 32.0%, others = 0.3%). The psychometric properties of instruments designed to measure emotional overcontrol and undercontrol traits were assessed in accordance with current standards. Over-controlled patterns were significant predictors for strategies associated with rationalization and hyperfocusing in cognitive distress, while under-controlled traits were predictors for catastrophizing strategies and anxious-depressive symptomatology. These results match the theoretical proposals of this conceptualization. These aspects are analyzed in consideration of their implications for psychological intervention.