emotion regulation strategies

The Persian translation of the emotion regulation strategies inventory (Gross & John, 2003) was validated among Iranian EFL teachers. The predictive power of variables, i.e. educational background, working experience, gender, and age was also appraised. To do so, 250 EFL teachers with at least five-year teaching experience at the universities of two states, Isfahan and Fars, were invited to take part in the study. The non-random convenient sampling technique was then adopted. Filling out the inventory was done after the class time. The results of the principal component analysis (varimax rotation) verified the original two-factor model. The multiple regression analysis done by AMOS software also revealed that demographic variables could significantly affect teachers’ emotion regulation, though their effect in the present sample was small (R2=0.08 and R2=0.02). The results also suggested that the teachers disagreed about the use of expressive suppression in their classes (m=3.28) and were rather undecided as to the use of cognitive reappraisal in their teaching (m=4.49).

Oral exams are a threatening situation for students, and avoidance behaviours such as postponement and expression inhibition, are ways of coping with tests anxiety. Present study aims to classify students into profiles based upon their levels of test anxiety and behavioural avoidance and explore differences in cognitive-regulation strategies and skills across the profiles. Participants (N=155) completed self-reports in an online survey. Latent class analysis identified four profiles of students combining levels of test anxiety, expression inhibition, and postponement. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated differences across groups in emotion regulation strategies with catastrophizing and rumination as the most employed in highly test anxious groups, and positive reappraisal in lowest test anxiety groups. In emotion regulation difficulties, the most distressed groups exhibited more deficits to control interference in goal-oriented behaviours, control impulses and emotion acceptance, compared with the remaining groups. Results support inclusion of emotion-regulation training in treatment of oral test anxiety.