The role of emotion regulation and intolerance to uncertainty on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and distress

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing negative consequences on mental health around the globe. To date, research on what psychological factors could influence individuals’ distress is still scarce. The current study aims to test a multiple mediation model to examine the role of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) and emotional regulation (i.e., expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) as joint factors, which can increase understanding of psychological distress due to the COVID-19 outbreak. An online survey measuring fear of COVID-19, IU, emotional regulation, and psychological distress was administered to 3863 Italian adults (females 73.3%; Mage = 36.44; SD = 14.74) during lockdown. Results showed that IU partially mediated the effect of fear of COVID-19 on depression, anxiety and stress. Moreover, individuals with difficulties in managing the uncertainties due to their fear of COVID-19 may be at risk for heightened use of expressive suppression and depression. However, individuals with both higher IU and expressive suppression showed lower level of stress. High cognitive reappraisal has a mediational effect on the relationship between fear of COVID-19, IU, and lower psychological distress. Findings suggest that IU and emotional regulation should be targeted for informing the development of tailored treatments to reduce the negative consequences of the outbreak.

“I’ll Be There”: Informal and Formal Support Systems and Mothers’ Psychological Distress during NICU Hospitalization

“…Of the three resources, intolerance of uncertainty was found to be the most powerful factor associated with mothers’ psychological distress. This finding is consistent with previous studies that examined the relationship between intolerance to uncertainty and psychological distress in other populations and stressful situations [ 51 , 52 ]. The difficulty of enduring uncertainty and the desire to clarify the uncertainty emerges here as a debilitating factor.…”

How and when can job-insecure employees prevent psychological distress against the COVID-19 pandemic? The role of cognitive appraisal and reappraisal

“…Job insecurity refers to employees' subjective perceptions of threats to the continuity and stability of their current employment (Hellgren et al, 1999;Shoss, 2017), which, in turn, causes detrimental consequences on their mental health (Chen & Eyoun, 2021). Among these consequences, psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic has received increasing attention (Blanuša et al, 2021;Chen & Eyoun, 2021;Gullo et al, 2022). Transactional theory suggests that stress appraisal plays an important role in individuals' emotional reactions toward situational stimulus by shaping the ways in which the meaning of a specific situation Fig.…”

“…Psychological distress can be harmful to mental health and has been documented to be associated with negative outcomes (Prudenzi et al, 2021). Individuals, therefore, are motivated to seek to relieve psychological distress using emotion regulation strategies (Gullo et al, 2022;Ye et al, 2022b). Cognitive reappraisal is one such emotion regulation strategy, referring to "a form of cognitive change that involves construing a potentially emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact" (Gross & John, 2003, p. 349).…”

“…Such prediction is supported by many more bankruptcies, layoffs, and downsizings due to the deteriorating economic circumstances during the pandemic (Blanuša et al, 2021;Chen & Eyoun, 2021;Lian et al, 2022). This indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic causes and exacerbates job insecurity which in turn leads to psychological distress (Gullo et al, 2022;Khudaykulov et al, 2022;Lin et al, 2021). Such a detrimental impact of the pandemic on mental health highlights the sore need to reveal the underlying cognitive mechanism of psychological distress, along with the emotion regulation strategies that may help prevent it (Blanuša et al, 2021;Khudaykulov et al, 2022).…”

“…Although several studies have provided empirical evidence that job insecurity associated with COVID-19 leads to distress (Blanuša et al, 2021;Chen & Eyoun, 2021;Gullo et al, 2022;Khudaykulov et al, 2022), the cognitive mechanism underlying this link remain underexplored. It is important to understand the cognitive process experienced by employees, which could lead to psychological distress because this can help prevent it and its potential damage to psychological well-being.…”