Keywords
Intrapersonal Emotion Regulation; Interpersonal Emotion Regulation; Single; Breakup; State and Trait Emotion Regulation
Abstract
Romantic relationships affect many areas of life and are important sources of interpersonal emotion regulation, yet little research has investigated whether relationship status influences emotion regulation strategy use and emotion dysregulation. Considering that the types of emotion regulation strategies individuals use significantly affect their well-being, understanding the link between relationship status and emotion regulation strategy use is important. This study compared single, partnered, and recently separated individuals’ emotion dysregulation and use of eleven intrapersonal and eleven interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in general (i.e., trait) and in a specific situation (i.e., state) through retrospective self-report scales and an autobiographical writing task. Results indicated that recently separated individuals experienced the highest emotion dysregulation and endorsed greater use of emotion regulation strategies than single and partnered individuals, while single and partnered individuals experienced comparable levels of emotion dysregulation, though single individuals used several interpersonal emotion regulation strategies less frequently. These findings inform strategy-specific interventions for single and recently separated individuals and extend current knowledge on emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships.
Thesis Completion Year
2025
Thesis Completion Semester
Fall
Thesis Chair
Woerner, Jacqueline
College
College of Sciences
Department
Department of Psychology
Thesis Discipline
Psychology
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Echols, Abigail A., "Exploring the Link Between Relationship Status and Emotion Regulation Strategy Use" (2025). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 423.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/423
Rights Statement
