关键词: 多元情绪调节, 心理适应, 早期青少年, 日记法, 多水平潜在剖面分析

Abstract: Research on emotion regulation (ER) has predominantly focused on single regulation strategies and their associations with psychological adjustment. Although this approach has yielded valuable insights, it provides limited understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of ER in daily life. Emerging research indicates that people often use multiple strategies, either concurrently or sequentially, to manage a single emotional episode. This process, known as polyregulation, constitutes a central feature of ER in real-world settings yet remains insufficiently explored, particularly among early adolescents. Little was known about which combinations of ER strategies early adolescents typically deploy during negative social interactions and which patterns were most adaptive over time. To address this gap, the present study examined 352 Chinese students in grades five to seven with an average age of 12.05 years (SD = 0.88) using a 10-day daily diary combined with a six-month longitudinal questionnaire survey. The daily diaries recorded the use of ten distinct ER strategies, overall perceived success in regulating emotions after 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 enabled analyses of both within-person fluctuations in ER strategy combinations and between-person differences in stable multi-strategy ER patterns, as well as their associations with indicators of psychological adjustment. Multilevel latent profile analysis and structural equation modeling identified five within-person ER profiles: no ER, low-level multi-ER, moderate-level multi-ER, high-adaptive multi-ER, and high-level multi-ER. These profiles differed in regulatory intensity and preference for adaptive versus nonadaptive strategies. Adolescents who experienced higher daily anxiety and depressive mood were more likely to engage in low-, moderate-, and high-level multi-ER profiles and less likely to rely on adaptive strategy-dominant profiles. Between-person analyses revealed four stable typologies: predominantly no ER, predominantly low-level multi-ER, predominantly moderate-level multi-ER, and a diverse multi-ER profile characterized by heterogeneity and greater flexibility. Adolescents with the diverse profile reported lower loneliness and higher self-esteem, whereas those predominantly in low- and moderate-level profiles exhibited elevated social anxiety. These findings demonstrate that the pivotal role of flexible, multi-strategy ER in early adolescents’ psychological adjustment. Moving beyond static, single-strategy ER perspectives, the results underscore the adaptive value of dynamically coordinating combinations of ER strategies with situational demands. By capturing both within- and between-person variability, the present study advances understanding of ER as a context-sensitive, flexible developmental process and suggest that interventions fostering polyregulation—by broadening ER strategy repertoires and encouraging integrative use—may enhance resilience and psychological well-being.

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