“…These mediators include low self-esteem (Roberts et al, 1996), problem-solving/coping styles or perceived coping effectiveness (Lopez, Mauricio, Gormley, Simko, & Berger, 2001;Wei et al, 2003), self-splitting and self-concealment (Lopez, Mitchell, & Gormley, 2002), social self-efficacy and emotional awareness (Mallinckrodt & Wei, 2005), maladaptive perfectionism (Wei et al, 2004), and emotional reactivity (i.e., finding it difficult to remain calm when experiencing intense emotions) or emotional cutoff or closure (i.e., pulling away when one is experiencing intense emotions; Wei, Vogel, Ku, & Zakalik, 2005). One limitation of these studies is the use of cross-sectional research designs in which all of the measures were assessed at the same point in time, which limits our ability to draw causal inferences from the findings.…”