Overview
Emotion regulation refers to the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they experience, when they arise, and how those emotions are expressed and managed. It encompasses both automatic and deliberate strategies, including reappraisal of a situation's meaning, suppression or repression of emotional expression, attentional control, and self-regulatory behaviours that restore equilibrium under stress or frustration. Effective regulation supports adaptive decision-making, interpersonal functioning, and physical and mental health, whereas habitual reliance on maladaptive strategies, such as chronic repression of emotion, is associated with adverse effects on well-being. Regulatory capacity develops across the lifespan and is shaped by early relationships: caregiving quality and attachment influence physiological stress responses, and parental factors interact with children's somatic and emotional functioning. Difficulties in regulation are implicated in a range of conditions, including rumination-related disorders, impulsivity, loneliness-linked behaviours such as bedtime procrastination, and the emotional dysregulation seen in some neurodevelopmental presentations. Identity-related emotional processes, such as the management of moral emotions in particular cultural contexts, further illustrate the social embedding of regulation. Research in this area examines the cognitive and physiological mechanisms of emotional control, their developmental and relational origins, the consequences of different strategies for health, and interventions, including cognitive-behavioural and neurofeedback approaches, that aim to strengthen adaptive regulation.
Research published in this journal
11 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
Causes and Self-regulatory Mechanisms of Frustration: A Qualitative Exploration of Rock Climbers
Consequences of Repression of Emotion: Physical Health, Mental Health and General Well Being
Loneliness and Bedtime Procrastination: Exploring a Model of Interconnectedness Among Young Adults in Germany
Caregiver-Child Co-Rumination and Treatment Outcomes in a Randomized Clinical Trial of Rumination-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Childhood Somatic Complaints: Relationships with Child Emotional Functioning and Parental Factors
Maternal Behavior Affects Child’s Attachment-Related Cortisol Stress Response
Trading on Impulse: The Role of ADHD, Impulsivity, and Gender in Financial Risk and Investment Outcomes
Building Resilience among Children and Youth with ADHD through Identifying and Developing Protective Factors in Academic, Interpersonal and Cognitive Domains
Histomorphomertric Analysis Of Hormonal Contraceptive Pills On Anterior Pituitary Gland In Female Wister Rats
How this research is being cited
The 11 articles above have been cited 105 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
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2026 · Developmental Review
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2026 · BMC Psychology
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2026 · Family Relations
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2026 · Behavioral Sciences
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2026 · British Journal of Guidance & Counselling
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2025 · Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs
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2025 · Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
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2025 · Journal of Black Psychology
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Emotion Regulation, linking to each citing work.