Managing Perceived Stress and Emotional Self-regulation for Sustainable Mental Health Practice

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to determine the relationship between perceived stress and emotional self-regulation for the sustainable practice of mental health in university students in Peru.   Theoretical framework: The constant presence of tension experienced by students, consequently, triggers a series of manifestations such as: loss of motivation, feeling of failure, frustration, guilt and self-distrust, as well as difficulties in presenting effective coping strategies; causing the person to perceive their life as exhausting and uncontrollable, affecting all areas of their life (Estrada, 2021). Emotional self-regulation is conceptualized as the capacity that enables the subject to manage what they feel and efficiently face the demands of the environment; this, in turn, is considered a support strategy that facilitates the person to have a better performance in their environment and well-being with themselves, as well as to cope with stressful events that can generate dysfunctional behavior (Dominguez, 2018).   Methodology: The research is non-experimental and has a descriptive correlational design that allows to describe and explain the relationship between variables. 220 university students from the last cycles of the Psychology degree participated, of both genders. The instruments used were the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) by Cohen et al. (1983) and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ-P) by Gross and John (2003).    Results and discussion: The students present a medium level of perceived stress in 50.9%. While in emotional self-regulation they show a moderate level of 78.6%. Although the population evaluated has the capacity to cope at a very high level; the cognitive assessment is presented at a low level, which suggests that despite the strategies that the students have, these may be inefficient since a previous analysis of the situation is not carried out to determine the most adequate tool to address the problem.   Conclusion: Students use suppression as a self-regulation strategy, which, although it helps self-control at a given moment, is not considered the best way to cope since the inhibition of emotions generates higher levels of stress in the long term, affecting overall well-being and professional performance.   Implications: Based on the findings obtained, it is necessary to promote acceptance and emotional release, as well as the use of adaptive strategies to achieve effective self-regulation and preserve mental health.