A Study Of Correlation Among Trait Anxiety,Emotion Regulation Strategies And Empathy

Intergenerational transmission of anxiety occurs in family relationships,and with the progress and development of The Times,although technology has brought convenience to people's lives,it has not reduced their anxiety,instead,with the fast pace of life,more anxiety.Trait anxiety is a stable long-term personality trait.If there is no appropriate emotional regulation strategy to help it improve its long-term state of susceptibility to negative emotions,it is easy to transmit this negative state to family members or close people.Previous studies on trait anxiety mostly focused on theoretical models,influencing factors and cognitive processing,and paid little attention to the environmental adaptability of individuals with trait anxiety.Empathy has a good environmental adaptability in our life course,which may be related to trait anxiety personality to some extent.Therefore,the purpose of this study is to further explore the correlation between trait anxiety,emotion regulation strategies and empathy.In study 1,the trait anxiety scale(T-AI),emotion regulation questionnaire(ERQ)and Interpersonal Reactive Index(IRI)were used to measure the trait anxiety,emotion regulation strategy and empathy of 410 social workers and college students,and the relationship among them had been explored.The results are as follows:(1)The score of female empathy was significantly higher than that of male.The scores of fantasy and personal distress in the students group were significantly higher than that of the working group.(2)Trait anxiety was positively correlated with emotional regulation strategy of expressive suppression,fantasy,and personal pain,and negatively correlated with emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal and perspective-taking;There was a significant positive correlation between regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal and perspective-taking,fantasy,empathic concern,and there was a significant positive correlation between emotional regulation strategies of expressive suppression and personal distress.(3)Trait anxiety has a negative predictive effect on the emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal,and a positive predictive effect on the emotional regulation strategies of expressive suppression.Trait anxiety has negative predictive effect on perspective-taking and positive predictive effect on personal distress.The emotional regulation strategy of cognitive reappraisal has positive prediction effect on perspective-taking,fantasy,empathic concern,while the emotional regulation strategy of expressive suppression has positive prediction effect on personal distress.(4)The emotional regulation strategy of cognitive reappraisal has partially mediating effect between trait anxiety and perspective-taking,and partially mediating effect between trait anxiety and fantasy.The emotional regulation strategy of expressive suppression has partially mediating effect between trait anxiety and personal distress.In study 2,the subjects of high and low trait anxiety with different emotional regulation strategies(cognitive reappraisal / expressive suppression)were selected to observe the pain scene pictures and the neutral scene pictures,by comparing the pain effects(the difference in pain rating between images of painful situations and images of neutral situations),which include self(participants themselves feel pain degrees)and others(participants believe that others feel pain degrees),to examine whether there were differences between the subjects.The results are as follows:(1)On the self-pain effect,the main effect of the tendency emotion regulation strategy was significant,but the interaction effect between the tendency of emotion regulation strategy and the degree of trait anxiety is not significant.(2)No significant effect was found on the pain effect of others.Combined with the above two studies,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Trait anxiety is negatively correlated with perspective-taking,and positively correlated with personal distress.(2)Emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal has a significant mediating effect between trait anxiety and perspective-taking.Emotional regulation strategies of expressive suppression has a significant mediating effect between trait anxiety and personal distress.(3)Those who were used to emotional regulation strategies of expressive suppression scored higher on the self-pain effect than those who were used to emotional regulation strategies of cognitive reappraisal.