The association between emotion regulation strategies, anxiety, autonomic arousal, and quality of life in Malaysian young adults

Difficulties regulating emotions and physiological arousal can heighten stress and anxiety in young adults, lowering quality of life (QoL). This pre-registered study examined whether maladaptive emotion regulation (e.g. expressive suppression) relates to greater emotional and arousal dysregulation (e.g. reduced heart rate variability, HRV) and poorer QoL. 101 young adults (21.1 ± 1.9 years; 73.3% female) in Malaysia completed questionnaires on emotion regulation, stress, anxiety, and QoL, while heart rate was recorded at rest and during exposure to emotion-inducing stimuli. Bootstrapped correlation and mediation analyses revealed that greater emotional dysregulation was associated with lower use of cognitive reappraisal, higher stress/anxiety, and poorer QoL. Cognitive reappraisal related to lower stress/anxiety and better QoL, whereas expressive suppression related to higher anxiety and poorer psychological QoL. Among frequent reappraisers, reduced stress and anxiety predicted better QoL. Promoting cognitive reappraisal may improve wellbeing and help young people cope with emotional challenges.