Speaker
Description
This study investigates the relationship between parent-child attachment styles and emotional regulation strategies among young adults in Malaysia. Emotional regulation, specifically cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, plays an important role in the psychosocial development of young adults. This quantitative study included 105 Malaysian young adults. It used the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to examine attachment experiences throughout childhood and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to measure current emotional regulation practices. The Pearson correlation and one-way ANOVA analysis were conducted using SPSS Version 29. The findings showed that parental care, particularly from paternal care, was associated with the use of cognitive reappraisal, but maternal care had a negative relationship with suppression. However, no significant relationship was found between the overprotection dimension and emotional regulation. ANOVA results revealed significant differences in reappraisal scores between attachment styles for both parents, with secure attachment styles associated with greater reappraisal use. No significant differences were found in suppression among attachment styles. These findings emphasize the importance of early parental bonding, particularly the care dimension, in developing healthy emotional regulation techniques in young adulthood while also suggesting that suppression may be influenced more by cultural or personal factors.
Keywords: parent-child attachment, emotional regulation, reappraisal, suppression, young adults, Malaysia
