Emotion regulation strategies on psychological distress and psychological well-being of caregivers of mentally challenged children: moderating role of social support

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the moderating role of social support in the relationship between emotion regulation, psychological distress, and psychological well-being of caregivers of mentally challenged children. A total of 315 caregivers aged 18–62 (M_age = 36.99, SD = 9.90; 38.7% male, 61.3% female) completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and Psychological Well-being Scale. The results indicated that social support significantly moderated the relationship between cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and psychological well-being. However, the moderating effect of social support in the relationship between cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and psychological distress was insignificant. The findings suggest that caregivers of mentally challenged children with high social support will report higher psychological well-being when they adopt cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotion regulation strategies
• psychological well-being
• psychological distress
• social support
• moderating effect

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data analysed for this study is available and would be made available by the corresponding author upon request.

Ethical standards and informed consent

This study abided by the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee, as well as 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. All participants gave their consent before participating in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.