Factors Affecting Emotion Regulation of Undergraduate Students in China

Background and Aims: This study aimed to investigate the factors related to and affecting emotion regulation among undergraduate students in China. Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in students’ mental health, social functioning, and academic adaptation. However, limited research has been conducted on this topic in the context of Chinese higher education.

Methodology: A quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted with 326 undergraduate students from Kunming College of Arts and Sciences, selected through simple random sampling. The Emotion Regulation and Factors Affecting Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERFAQ) was used to assess seven variables. The data were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses.

Results: The findings showed that all seven independent variables, authoritative parenting style, authoritarian parenting style, permissive parenting style, academic stress, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, cognitive control, and social media use, were significantly positively correlated with emotion regulation (p < 0.01). Five factors significantly predicted emotion regulation: academic stress, authoritative parenting style, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, cognitive control, and social media use. These variables explained 45.4% of the variance in emotion regulation. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles showed no significant predictive effect.

Conclusion: The study showed that academic, personal, family, and social media factors jointly influence the emotional regulation abilities of Chinese undergraduate students. The findings suggest that focusing on stress reduction, emotional self-efficacy development, supportive parenting, and balanced media use may effectively enhance emotion regulation in this population.