Emotion regulation habits and emotional states of college students during lockdown: A cross-sectional survey

Table 1 Comparison of negative emotion detection rates of students with different characteristics

Variable	n (%)	Depression		Anxiety		Stress
		n (%)	P value	n (%)	P value	n (%)	P value
Total	494 (100)	321 (65.0)	-	343 (69.4)	-	251 (50.8)	-
Gender			0.024	-	0.355	-	0.152
Male	205 (41.5)	145 (70.7)		147 (71.7)		112 (54.6)
Female	289 (58.5)	176 (60.9)		196 (67.8)		139 (48.1)
Grade			0.947	-	0.747	-	0.213
22	67 (13.6)	43 (64.2)		48 (71.6)		27 (40.3)
21	101 (20.4)	66 (65.3)		71 (70.3)		49 (48.5)
20	275 (55.7)	177 (64.4)		186 (67.6)		146 (53.1)
19	51 (10.3)	35 (68.6)		38 (74.5)		29 (56.9)
Home address			0.014	-	0.298	-	0.317
Henan Province	174 (35.2)	106 (60.9)		121 (69.5)		89 (51.1)
Non-Zhengzhou	231 (46.8)	165 (71.4)a		166 (71.9)		123 (53.2)
Zhengzhou	89 (18.0)	50 (56.2)		56 (62.9)		39 (43.8)
Household			0.044	-	0.110	-	0.386
City	281 (56.9)	172 (61.2)		187 (66.5)		138 (49.1)
Country	213 (43.1)	149 (70.0)		156 (73.2)		113 (53.1)
Family economic situation			0.005	-	0.127	-	0.017
Superior	8 (1.6)	7 (87.5)		7 (87.5)		6 (75.0)
Well	108 (21.9)	60 (55.6)b		70 (64.8)		50 (46.3)
Normal	291 (58.9)	186 (63.9)		198 (68.0)		139 (47.8)b
Low-income	87 (17.6)	68 (78.2)		68 (78.2)		56 (64.4)
Major			0.751	-	0.104	-	0.187
Science	84 (17.0)	56 (66.7)		55 (65.5)		41 (48.8)
Humanities	148 (30.0)	97 (65.5)		109 (73.6)		78 (52.7)
Engineering	150 (30.4)	100 (66.7)		110 (73.3)		84 (56.0)
Medicine	112 (22.7)	68 (60.7)		69 (61.6)		48 (42.9)
Frequency of sleeping late/week			0.003	-	0.016	-	0.024
0-1	43 (8.7)	22 (51.2)c		22 (51.2)c		17 (39.5)
2-3	107 (21.7)	58 (54.2)c		69 (64.5)		45 (42.1)
4-5	114 (23.1)	76 (66.7)		83 (72.8)		57 (50.0)
6-7	230 (46.6)	165 (71.7)		169 (73.5)		132 (57.4)
Frequency of contact with parents/week			0.019	-	0.181	-	0.294
0-1	123 (24.9)	94 (76.4)d		94 (76.4)		71 (57.7)
2-3	210 (42.5)	126 (60.0)		143 (68.1)		102 (48.6)
4-5	90 (18.2)	58 (64.4)		62 (68.9)		46 (51.1)
6-7	71 (14.4)	43 (60.6)		44 (62.0)		32 (45.1)
Academic stress			< 0.001	-	< 0.001	-	< 0.001
Yes	377 (76.3)	268 (71.1)		280 (74.3)		215 (57.0)
No	117 (23.7)	53 (45.3)		63 (53.8)		36 (30.8)
Same-sex friends			< 0.001	-	< 0.001	-	< 0.001
Non	93 (18.8)	76 (81.7)e		77 (82.8)e		62 (66.7)e
1-2	241 (48.8)	162 (67.2)e		170 (70.5)		125 (51.9)e
3-4	121 (24.5)	58 (47.9)		69 (57.0)		45 (37.2)
5 or more	39 (7.9)	25 (64.1)		27 (69.2)		19 (48.7)
Opposite-sex friends			0.096	-	0.045	-	0.082
Non	254 (51.4)	171 (67.3)		183 (72.0)e		130 (51.2)
1-2	205 (41.5)	133 (64.9)		140 (68.3)		106 (51.7)
3-4	24 (4.9)	10 (41.7)		11 (45.8)		7 (29.2)
5 or more	11 (2.2)	7 (63.6)		9 (81.8)		8 (72.7)

^aP < 0.05 vs Zhengzhou group, after Bonferroni adjustment.

^bP < 0.05 vs low-income group, after Bonferroni adjustment.

^cP < 0.05 vs 6-7 groups, after Bonferroni adjustment.

^dP < 0.05 vs 2-3 groups, after Bonferroni adjustment.

^eP < 0.05 vs 3-4 groups, after Bonferroni adjustment.

Table 2 Correlation of depression, anxiety, stress and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21

Variable	mean± SD	Depression	Anxiety	Stress	DASS-21
Depression	16.21 ± 12.18	1	-	-	-
Anxiety	14.90 ± 11.91	0.867a	1	-	-
Stress	17.64 ± 12.07	0.865a	0.881a	1	-
DASS-21	48.77 ± 34.88	0.951a	0.951a	0.961a	1

^aP < 0.001.

DASS-21: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21.

Table 3 Emotional regulation habits and the detection rate of negative emotion among students

Variable	Depression (n = 321)			Anxiety (n = 343)			Stress (n = 251)
	n (%)	χ2	P value	n (%)	χ2	P value	n (%)	χ2	P value
Self-control		0.001	0.978	-	0.930	0.335	-	0.761	0.383
Yes	174 (64.9)			191 (71.3)			141 (52.6)
No	147 (65.0)			152 (67.3)			110 (48.7)
Compensatory spending		22.611	< 0.001	-	22.185	< 0.001	-	16.866	< 0.001
Yes	75 (87.2)			78 (90.7)			61 (70.9)
No	246 (60.3)			265 (65.0)			190 (46.6)
Binge eating		20.166	< 0.001	-	17.600	< 0.001	-	19.732	< 0.001
Yes	92 (82.9)			95 (85.6)			77 (69.4)
No	229 (59.8)			248 (64.8)			174 (45.4)
Maintaining emotional interaction		22.132	< 0.001	-	12.248	< 0.001	-	10.410	0.001
Yes	108 (52.9)			124 (60.8)			86 (42.2)
No	213 (73.4)			219 (75.5)			165 (56.9)
Appropriate recreational		41.261	< 0.001	-	26.174	< 0.001	-	41.340	< 0.001
Yes	161 (53.8)			182 (60.9)			117 (39.1)
No	160 (82.1)			161 (82.6)			134 (68.7)
Physical activity		10.643	0.001	-	10.383	0.001	-	6.346	0.012
Yes	76 (53.9)			83 (58.9)			59 (41.8)
No	245 (69.4)			260 (73.7)			192 (54.4)
Seeking professional help		0.750	0.386	-	0.006	0.940	-	0.288	0.591
Yes	44 (69.8)			44 (69.8)			34 (54.0)
No	277 (64.3)			299 (69.4)			217 (50.3)
Lack of emotional coping style		5.573	0.018	-	5.828	0.016	-	11.275	< 0.001
Yes	131 (71.6)			139 (76.0)			111 (60.7)
No	190 (61.1)			204 (65.6)			140 (45.0)

Table 4 Multiple linear regression of different emotional regulation habits and negative emotion in college students (n = 494)

Variable	Depression			Anxiety			Stress
	B (95%CI)	β	P value	B (95%CI)	β	P value	B (95%CI)	β	P value
Constant	25.30 (20.93-29.68)	-	< 0.001	19.89 (16.20-23.57)	-	< 0.001	22.91 (19.16-26.67)	-	< 0.001
Compensatory spending	4.15 (1.54-6.77)	0.13	0.002	5.04 (2.43-7.65)	0.16	< 0.001	4.60 (1.94-7.26)	0.15	0.001
Binge eating	5.40 (3.05-7.76)	0.19	< 0.001	4.06 (1.70-6.42)	0.14	0.001	4.62 (2.21-7.04)	0.16	< 0.001
Leisure activities	-7.41 (-9.28 to -5.53)	-0.30	< 0.001	-6.77 (-8.66 to -4.88)	-0.28	< 0.001	-6.21 (-8.14 to -4.28)	-0.25	0.007
R2	0.36			0.3			0.28
Adjusted R2	0.33			0.28			0.27
F	13.249a			15.905a			19.14a

^aP < 0.001.

Independent variable: Depression, anxiety, stress: Compensatory spending, binge eating, maintaining emotional interaction, appropriate recreational, physical activity, lack of emotional coping style. Covariate: Depression: Gender, home address, household, family economic situation, frequency of sleeping late/week, frequency of contact with parents/week, academic stress and same-sex friends; anxiety: Frequency of sleeping late/week, academic stress, same-sex friends and opposite-sex friends; stress: Family economic situation, frequency of sleeping late/week, academic stress and same-sex friends. CI: Confidence interval.