ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
The Relationship Between Psychological Resilience and Emotion Regulation in Chinese Adolescents : a Psychological Network Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen Futian Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, China
- 2Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
- 3School of Nursing and Health Studies, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 4Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, China
- 5Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
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Background: Although psychological resilience and emotion regulation are crucial factors influencing mental health, network analysis studies examining their interrelationships in adolescents are scarce. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shenzhen, China (October-November 2024). A total of 2119 seventh-grade adolescents (Mean age = 12.25 ± 0.45 years; 1101 males) were included. Network analysis was employed to model interactions among items measuring psychological resilience and emotion regulation. The network structure and gender differences were examined. Results: Females scored lower on psychological resilience dimensions and cognitive reappraisal, but higher on expressive suppression. The items "Setting goals to propel myself forward" (from resilience) and "Thinking positively when facing something unpleasant" (from emotion regulation) exhibited the highest node expected influence within their respective clusters. Bridge centrality analysis, supplemented by bootstrapped difference tests, identified the positive cognition item "Believing that everything has a positive side" as possessing statistically superior bridge strength, indicating it as the most robust connector between the two constructs. The network structure for females showed greater connectivity. Conclusions: This study provides a visualization of the complex network between psychological resilience and emotion regulation. The findings highlight the centrality of "positive cognition" as a critical and reliable intervention target, suggesting that fostering the ability to find positive aspects in adversity may most effectively enhance the entire resilience-emotion regulation system in adolescents.
Keywords: psychological resilience, Emotion Regulation, China, adolescents, Network analysis
Received: 27 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xiang, Lu, Wei, Hao, Sun and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yingjun Xiang, 214992862@qq.com
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