Abstract: Research on emotion regulation (ER) has predominantly examined single regulation strategies and their associations with psychological adjustment. Although this line of work has yielded important insights, it provides only a limited understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of ER in everyday life. Emerging evidence suggests that individuals often deploy multiple strategies, either simultaneously or sequentially, in response to a single emotional episode. This process, termed emotion polyregulation, represents a core feature of ER in real-world contexts yet remains understudied, particularly in early adolescence. Little is known about the strategy repertoire of emotion polyregulation (ER strategy combinations) that early adolescents typically deploy during negative social interactions and which patterns of the strategy repertoire are associated with more adaptive adjustment over time.
To address this gap, the present study examined 352 Chinese students in Grades 5 to 7 (M_age = 12.05 years, SD = 0.88) using a 10-day daily diary with a 6-month longitudinal questionnaire survey. The daily diaries captured the use of 10 distinct ER strategies, perceived regulatory success following negative social interactions (e.g., with classmates, friends, teachers), and daily experiences of anxiety and depressive mood. The longitudinal questionnaire survey assessed self-reported loneliness, depression, social anxiety, and self-esteem. This intensive, multi-method design allowed us to examine both within-person variation in ER strategy combinations and between-person differences in relatively stable polyregulation patterns, as well as their associations with indices of psychological adjustment.
Multilevel latent profile analysis and structural equation modeling identified five within-person ER profiles: no ER, low-level polyregulation, moderate-level polyregulation, high-adaptive polyregulation, and high-level polyregulation. These profiles differed in both regulatory intensity and the relative predominance of adaptive versus maladaptive strategies. Adolescents who reported higher daily anxiety and depressive mood were more likely to engage in low-, moderate-, and high-level polyregulation profiles and less likely to rely on the adaptive strategy-dominant profile. At the between-person level, four relatively stable profiles: predominantly no ER, predominantly low-level polyregulation, predominantly moderate-level polyregulation, and a diverse polyregulation profile characterized by greater heterogeneity and flexibility. Adolescents in the diverse polyregulation profile reported lower loneliness and higher self-esteem, whereas those in the predominantly low- and moderate-level profiles reported higher social anxiety.
These findings highlight the pivotal role of flexible emotion polyregulation in early adolescents’ psychological adjustment. Moving beyond static, single-strategy perspectives on ER, the results underscore the adaptive value of dynamically coordinating multiple ER strategies in response to situational demands. By capturing both within- and between-person variability, the present study advances understanding of ER as a context-sensitive and flexible developmental process, and suggests that polyregulation-promoting interventions designed to broaden young adolescents’ ER repertoires and promote the integrative use of multiple strategies may enhance resilience and psychological well-being.

Key words: emotion polyregulation, psychological adjustment, early adolescence, daily diary method, multilevel latent profile analysis