Emotion regulation profiles in Syrian refugees and migrants in Germany: self-efficacy, resilience and well-being comparisons

Abstract

Background Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in psychopathology. Understanding person-centred patterns of ER strategies is crucial for prevention and intervention strategies. However, there is a paucity of research on ER profiles and their psychological correlates in forcibly displaced people (FDP).Objective This study aimed to identify habitual ER profiles and to examine the predictive role of different psychological variables on these profiles in Syrian FDP in Germany.Method In a sample of 991 individuals, we conducted a latent profile analysis (LPA) to assess habitual reappraisal and suppression of emotion as ER strategies, as well as self-efficacy, resilience, well-being comparisons, trauma exposure and International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as potential predictors of ER profile membership.Results LPA identified four distinct ER profiles: high regulators (12.8%), low regulators (20.6%), reappraisal regulators (25.1%) and suppressive regulators (41.5%). In multinomial regression analysis, self-efficacy, resilience, appetitive well-being comparisons and trauma exposure were significantly associated with profile membership, while PTSD and aversive well-being comparisons showed no significant association. High regulators exhibited the highest levels of self-efficacy, resilience and appetitive well-being comparisons, followed by reappraisal, suppressive and low regulators. Additionally, high regulators reported the highest number of traumatic events, followed by suppressive and low regulators.Conclusions Our results indicate a higher adaptiveness in high regulation ER profiles as opposed to low regulation ER profiles.Clinical implications Given that most FDP in our sample relied predominantly on one ER strategy, developing interventions that focus on cultivating a broad repertoire of ER strategies may be beneficial.