The role of emotion beliefs in depression, anxiety, and stress

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics, reliability statistics, and Pearson correlation matrix for demographic variables, emotion belief variables, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Variable	M	SD	Range	α	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9
1. DASS-21 Depression symptoms	6.78	5.55	0–21	92	–
2. DASS-21 Anxiety symptoms	5.67	5.00	0–21	.88	.66***	–
3. DASS-21 Stress symptoms	8.10	5.06	0–21	.88	.72***	.78***	–
4. EBQ Negative-controllability	9.42	4.44	4–27	.81	.33***	.30***	.28***	–
5. EBQ Positive-controllability	9.88	4.46	4–26	.82	.28***	.27***	.25***	.83***	–
6. EBQ Negative-usefulness	10.98	4.95	4–28	.82	.19***	.19***	.18***	.55***	.53***	–
7. EBQ Positive-usefulness	7.06	3.86	4–27	.87	.22***	.25***	.19***	.65***	.61***	.49***	–
8. Age	22.59	6.4	16–56	–	−.14***	−.16***	−.10***	−.16***	−.15***	−.24***	−.12***	–
9. Gender	–	–	–	–	.03	.12***	.11***	.00	.02	−.01	−.08*	−.04	–

*p < .05.***p < .001. Age was a continuous variable. Gender was coded 1 = male, 2 = female. M = Mean. SD = Standard Deviation. α = Cronbach’s alpha. Higher scores on EBQ variables indicate stronger beliefs that emotions are uncontrollable or useless.

Figure 1. Path analysis modelling the relationship between emotion beliefs and depression, anxiety, and stress.

Solid lines indicate significant paths, dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths. Age and gender were included in the path analysis but are not shown here. Higher scores on the EBQ variables indicate stronger beliefs that emotions are uncontrollable or useless.

Table 2. Results of path analysis predicting depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

	Depression		Anxiety		Stress
Variable	β	B [95% CI]	β	B [95% CI]	β	B [95% CI]
EBQ Negative-controllability	0.30***	0.37 [0.20, 0.53]	0.19**	0.21 [0.07, 0.34]	0.22***	0.25 [0.12, 0.39]
EBQ Positive-controllability	0.01	0.02 [−0.12, 0.16]	0.04	0.04 [−0.09, 0.18]	0.05	0.05 [−0.07, 0.17]
EBQ Negative-usefulness	−0.02	−0.02 [−0.12, 0.08]	−0.01	−0.01 [−0.09, 0.06]	0.01	0.01 [−0.07, 0.10]
EBQ Positive-usefulness	0.02	0.03 [−0.09, 0.15]	0.11**	0.15 [0.02, 0.26]	0.01	0.02 [−0.11, 0.14]
Age	−0.09**	−0.08 [−0.12, −0.03]	−0.11***	−0.08 [−0.12, −0.05]	−0.05	−0.04 [−0.08, 0.01]
Gender	0.03	0.33 [−0.50, 1.09]	0.12***	1.42 [0.80, 2.03]	0.11***	1.27 [0.56, 1.95]

CI = confidence interval. **p < .01.***p < .001. Gender was coded 1 = male, 2 = female.

Figure 2. Visual representation of the six-profile solution from the latent profile analysis.

Error bars are 95% confidence intervals. Scores are standardised values (z-scores), where 0 = mean sample score, and 1 value above or below = one standard deviation above or below the mean. Profile 1 = “low symptoms/moderate maladaptive beliefs”, profile 2 = “moderate symptoms/moderate maladaptive beliefs”, profile 3 = “high symptoms/moderate maladaptive beliefs”, profile 4 = “high symptoms/low maladaptive beliefs”, profile 5 = “high symptoms/high maladaptive beliefs”, profile 6 = “low symptoms/low maladaptive beliefs”.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request by contacting the corresponding author.