Cognitive flexibility mediates the impact of emotion regulation strategies on negative emotions in preschool teachers.

IF 2.9 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Frontiers in Psychology Pub Date : 2025-07-16 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1609872

Changwei Gu, Mengxin Guo, Yeying Cui, Feifei Yu, Ya Chen, Juanjuan Chu, Shuang Zhou

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Abstract

This study aimed to examine how cognitive flexibility mediates the associations between emotion regulation strategies and negative emotions among preschool teachers in China. A total of 392 in-service preschool teachers in Beijing were recruited through random sampling. Participants completed validated questionnaires assessing cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), anxiety and depression (SAS and SDS), and cognitive flexibility (Cognitive Flexibility Inventory). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping were used to test mediation models. The results revealed that cognitive reappraisal positively predicted cognitive flexibility, which in turn was associated with lower levels of both anxiety and depression. Conversely, expressive suppression negatively predicted cognitive flexibility, which indirectly contributed to increased negative emotions. However, the direct effects of expressive suppression on anxiety and depression were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that cognitive flexibility serves as a crucial psychological mechanism through which emotion regulation strategies impact mental health. This study advances current theoretical models by highlighting cognitive flexibility as a mediating factor in preschool teachers' emotional experiences.

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认知灵活性在情绪调节策略对幼儿教师负性情绪的影响中起中介作用。

本研究旨在探讨认知灵活性在幼儿教师情绪调节策略与负性情绪之间的中介作用。采用随机抽样的方法，对北京市在职幼儿教师392名进行了调查。参与者完成了认知重评和表达抑制（情绪调节问卷）、焦虑和抑郁（SAS和SDS）和认知灵活性（认知灵活性量表）的评估问卷。采用结构方程模型（SEM）和自举法对中介模型进行检验。结果显示，认知再评估积极预测认知灵活性，而认知灵活性反过来又与较低的焦虑和抑郁水平相关。相反，表达抑制负向预测认知灵活性，间接导致负面情绪增加。然而，表达抑制对焦虑和抑郁的直接影响无统计学意义。这些发现表明，认知灵活性是情绪调节策略影响心理健康的重要心理机制。本研究通过强调认知灵活性在幼儿教师情绪体验中的中介作用，进一步完善了现有的理论模型。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

13.20%

发文量

7396

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Psychology is the largest journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research across the psychological sciences, from clinical research to cognitive science, from perception to consciousness, from imaging studies to human factors, and from animal cognition to social psychology. Field Chief Editor Axel Cleeremans at the Free University of Brussels is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide. The journal publishes the best research across the entire field of psychology. Today, psychological science is becoming increasingly important at all levels of society, from the treatment of clinical disorders to our basic understanding of how the mind works. It is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing questions from philosophy, methods from neuroscience and insights from clinical practice - all in the goal of furthering our grasp of human nature and society, as well as our ability to develop new intervention methods.