THE INTERPLAY OF COGNITIVE EMOTIONAL REGULATION, EMOTIONAL REACTIVITY, AND ANXIETY IN YOUNG ADULTS

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the interplay by examining how cognitive emotional regulation strategies influence emotional reactivity in young adults with varying levels of anxiety. Young adulthood highlights the importance of emotional regulation skills. However, some young adults experience heightened emotional reactivity, meaning they have stronger or more immediate emotional responses to events often linked to anxiety disorders. A random sample of 128 Indian young adults (64 males and 64 females) were selected with age range 18-30 years. The findings suggest adaptive cognitive emotional regulation strategies showed significant positive correlation with general positive reactivity, insignificant low positive correlation with anxiety and maladaptive cognitive emotional regulation showed significant positive correlation with general negative reactivity, strong significant positive correlation with anxiety. General positive reactivity showed insignificant negative correlation with anxiety whereas general negative reactivity showed significant positive correlation with anxiety. Potential gender differences in adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies showed significant difference between Male and Female Indian Young adults. Similarly, emotional reactivity with gender difference and revealed there was significant difference between male and female young Indian adults in their general negative emotional reactivity. Comparing the significant difference between Anxiety with Gender difference revealed that there is no significant difference between Male and Female Indian Young adults. However, exploring the underlying reasons for this disparity is vital.