Emotional Regulation Among Psychology and Non-Psychology Studying College Students

This study aimed to find significant differences among students studying psychology and non-psychology courses in the college and genders, for emotional regulation. Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression are the two tendencies to regulate emotions, as per Gross and John (1998). Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) by Gross and Johns (1998) was used in this study. A total of 100 college students of the age 18-25 years participated in online survey, using Google forms, in which 50% belonged from both psychology and non-psychology studying streams, and 50% were male, 50% were female. The results showed that there is no significant difference for cognitive reappraisal among students studying psychology and non-psychology courses in the college and genders. However, the study found that students studying non-psychology courses have higher levels of expressive suppression, in comparison to students who are studying psychology. Also, there is a gender difference present with males having high tendency to use expressive suppression to regulate their emotions. The results suggest that the need for research to investigate the effect of course and gender on emotional regulation and other contributing factors effecting this variable.