中国初中生情绪调节能力与抑郁症状：应对方式中介作用的横断面分析

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry

• Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

Abstract

Background: While emotional regulation and coping styles influence adolescent depression, the mediating role of coping styles in the link between emotional‑regulation ability and depressive symptoms remains underexplored among junior high‑school students, a developmental group with immature coping patterns. Objectives: This study explored correlations among emotional‑regulation ability, two types of stress‑coping styles (problem‑focused and emotion‑focused coping), and depressive symptoms, and tested whether coping styles exerted indirect statistical associations between emotional‑regulation ability and depressive symptoms in Chinese junior high‑school students. Methods: In total, 600 students were recruited from five junior high schools across three cities in Henan Province via multi‑school convenience sampling (Sep‑Dec 2024). Questionnaires including the PHQ‑9, Adolescent Coping Style Scale, and Emotional Regulation Ability Questionnaire were administered. Pearson correlation and cross‑sectional indirect‑association analyses were performed based on 471 valid responses. Results: Emotional‑regulation ability was significantly negatively associated with depressive symptoms (*r* = −0.523, *P* < 0.001). It significantly predicted problem‑focused coping (*B* = −0.0733, *P* = 0.023) and directly predicted depressive symptoms (*B* = −0.1283, *P* < 0.001), but showed no significant association with emotion‑focused coping (*B* = −0.0465, *P* = 0.067). The total indirect effect was non‑significant (effect = −0.0002, 95% CI [−0.0038, 0.0033]), indicating neither coping style produced a significant indirect association. Conclusion: Among Chinese junior high‑school students, emotional‑regulation ability showed a direct negative association with depressive symptoms, whereas problem‑focused and emotion‑focused coping demonstrated no significant indirect effect. These findings suggest coping styles may not act as a stable indirect pathway at this early‑adolescent stage, supporting the evaluation of developmentally tailored emotional‑regulation programs in school‑ and community‑based mental‑health services.

Keywords

adolescent mental health, depressive symptoms, emotional regulation ability, junior high school students, stress coping ability

Received

24 June 2026

Accepted

01 October 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Wang, Yang, Ruru, Liu and Li. 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:

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