ESPLAT 2025 conference: Scientific thinking in challenging times

Introduction
Emotion regulation is critical for individual well-being and social success. This complex process involves strategies like situation selection, modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Deficiencies in emotion regulation can negatively impact mental health. This study investigates differences in emotion regulation skills between psychology and economics students.
Methods
A preview study was conducted using an online questionnaire with a sample of 294 students (147 psychology students; 147 economics students). Demographic variables were gender, age, mental health history and overall assessment of current life situation. Students self-reported their knowledge of emotion regulation concept and emotion regulation skills. Data on emotion regulation were collected using the standardized Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ), which assesses various facets of emotion regulation, including emotional awareness, understanding, clarity, awareness of the connection between bodily sensations and emotions, self-support, influencing emotions, tolerance, and readiness to confront distressful situations.
Results
84% of economics students were unfamiliar with emotion regulation concepts, compared to 18% of psychology students. 19% of respondents reported demanding life situations, and 28% (mostly psychology students) reported mental health issues. Psychology students demonstrated significantly higher emotion regulation skills across all ERSQ scales, particularly in awareness of the connection between bodily sensations and emotions. The smallest difference was in influencing emotions. Emotion regulation concept familiarity was a significant factor for all emotion regulation skills. Age was not related to emotion regulation skills.
Discussion
Psychology students, while reporting more mental health issues, also reported stronger emotion regulation skills, likely due to their studies of emotion regulation theories and strategies. This highlights the potential benefits of incorporating emotion regulation training into the curriculum for economics students to enhance their emotion regulation skills and overall well-being.