Early Life Experiences and Emotional Regulation Among Young Adults: A Correlational Study

Abstract

The current study explores the impact of various early life experiences on the choice of emotional regulation strategies, specifically cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as coping mechanisms. The study involves 118 young adults, selected through convenient sampling method between age range of 18-25 years. These participants were taken from the different colleges of greater Noida. The data were collected physically and virtually as well through Google form by emailing. The tools used in the study were Early Life Experiences Scale by Gilbert, et.al. (2003) Emotional Regulation Questionnaire by Gross and John (2003). Statistical analysis used in the current study was correlation analysis. A significant negative correlation was found between unvalued experience and cognitive reappraisal for emotions whereas significant positive correlation was found between the feeling of submissiveness and expressive suppression while regulating emotions. Threatened experience was neither correlated with cognitive reappraisal nor with expressive suppression during emotion regulation among young adults.