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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1469527

The relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotional manipulation among health colleges students: A crosssectional correlational study

Provisionally accepted
Mai B. Alwesmi Mai B. Alwesmi Rasha M. Bayounes Rasha M. Bayounes Norah N. Binrushaydan Norah N. Binrushaydan Maha A. Alanazi Maha A. Alanazi Raghad M. Salem Raghad M. Salem Raghad A. Alomairi Raghad A. Alomairi Amal Z. Albugami Amal Z. Albugami Ebtisam M. Alzahrani Ebtisam M. Alzahrani Lama A. Alahmari Lama A. Alahmari Naglaa Youssef Naglaa Youssef *
  • Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Emotional intelligence is commonly associated with career success. Employees with higher emotional intelligence tend to reap greater benefits. However, emotional manipulation has been reported as a dark side of emotional intelligence, which refers to the self-perceived ability to control the emotions and actions of others for self-benefit. Healthcare professionals with high emotional intelligence often improve the overall patient experience. However, their ability to manipulate emotions can have a detrimental impact on the quality of treatment. This cross-sectional correlational study assessed cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CER) and emotional manipulation among students of health colleges. Two instruments were used to collect the data: 1) the emotional manipulation scale and 2) the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. A total of 362 students from health colleges responded to the questionnaire. The students had a moderate tendency to use emotional manipulation (25.09 ± 6.79 out of 50). The most frequently used CER strategies included adaptive strategies such as positive reappraisal with a mean score of 7.45 ± 2.15 out of 10 and maladaptive strategies such as rumination with a mean score of 7.33 ± 2.23 out of 10. The emotional manipulation score had a small but statistically significant negative correlation with two adaptive CER strategies: positive refocusing (r = -0.146, p = 0.005) and focus on planning (r = -0.144, p = 0.006). This study sheds light on the relationship between CER strategies and emotional manipulation, suggesting that poor use of adaptive strategies is associated with emotional manipulation. This finding highlights the importance of designing interventional programs that improve the ability of health colleges students to regulate their cognitive and emotional responses, thus improving their overall well-being and performance as future healthcare workers.

    Keywords: cognitive emotion regulation, Emotional manipulation, Emotional Intelligence, Students, Health Colleges

    Received: 24 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alwesmi, Bayounes, Binrushaydan, Alanazi, Salem, Alomairi, Albugami, Alzahrani, Alahmari and Youssef. 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: Naglaa Youssef, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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