Emotion regulation and mental health in college students during coronavirus pandemic lockdowns

Table 2 Risk and protective factors for student mental health during lockdowns: A thematic synthesis

Factor category	Specific factors	Association with mental health	Proposed mechanism/ER framework	Ref.
Maladaptive ER/risk factors	Compensatory spending	Positive (β approximately 0.13-0.19)[1]	Experiential avoidance; mood repair; financial stress feedback loop	Zhang and Ma[7]; Rajkumar[8]
	Binge eating/emotional eating	Positive (β approximately 0.14-0.19)[1]	Emotional dysregulation; avoidance; physiological guilt/shame cycles	Coakley et al[19]; Rodríguez-Rey et al[28]
	Problematic internet/social media use	Positive	Avoidance, social comparison, sleep disruption	Marciano et al[20]; Boursier et al[21]
	Rumination	Strong positive	Perseverative cognitive focus on distress; amplifies negative affect	Cao et al[2]
Adaptive ER/protective factors	Recreational activities/hobbies	Negative (β approximately -0.25 to -0.30)[1]	Behavioral activation; attentional deployment; flow/mastery experiences	Quan et al[18]; Heumann et al[35]
	Physical activity/exercise	Negative (βapproximately -0.22)	Behavioral activation; physiological stress buffering (e.g., endorphins)	Stanton et al[10]
	Mindfulness/acceptance	Negative	Reduced experiential avoidance; decentering from negative thoughts	Hong et al[26]; Conversano et al[27]
	Cognitive reappraisal	Negative	Reinterpreting stressors; finding meaning; promoting psychological flexibility	Gross[5]
	Social support (virtual/in-person)	Negative (β approximately -0.19)	Social sharing; co-regulation; belongingness	Ye et al[9]; Ooi et al[17]
Contextual and demographic moderators	Lower socioeconomic status	Positive	Increased material hardship, less access to resources, higher baseline stress	Quan et al[18]; Amerio et al[56]
	High academic stress	Strong positive	Threat to self-efficacy and future prospects; performance pressure	Steare et al[38]; Sundarasen et al[54]
	Poor sleep quality	Strong positive	Bidirectional relationship; impairs prefrontal cortex function needed for ER	Cellini et al[55]; Alvaro et al[59]
	Loneliness/lack of social integration	Strong positive	Unmet need for connection; lack of co-regulation opportunities	Bu et al[51]; Killgore et al[52]

ER: Emotion regulation.