The role of mediation of positive and negative emotion regulation strategies between parental acceptance-rejection and social anxiety indicators

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the variables and whether there is a mediator effect of positive and negative emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between parental acceptance-rejection and social anxiety symptoms. The data collection group consisted of 311 participants aged 18-25, who studied in various departments of Ankara and Hacettepe Universities. Personal Information Form, Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire Short Form/Adult, Responses to Positive Affect Scale, Emotion Regulation Processes Scale and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale were used to obtain information about the variables of the study. The data were analyzed via the SPSS 20.0 program and the PROCESS Macro v3.3 version. The Pearson Moment Correlation Technique was used to identify the relationship between the variables, the mediator role of positive/negative emotion regulation strategies and the statistical significance were identified via the mediator effect analysis based on indirect effect approach of Hayes (2018), and Bootstrapping method. When the results of the analysis are examined, it is seen that there are significant and expected relationships only between remembered parent rejection and social anxiety symptoms, positive emotion saving and positive emotion reduction skills. Additionally, there were statistically significant relationships between social anxiety indicators and each emotion regulation abilities. Correlation analysis findings were taken into consideration on the basis of two dimensions of parenting which is the mediating role of positive emotions saving and positive emotion reduction. The results showed that the total indirect effect of these abilities had a partial mediator role in the relationship between perceived rejection parental attitudes in childhood and the symptoms of social anxiety reported in young adulthood, but specific indirect effects were differentiated according to the dimensions. The statistical significance of the found effects was supported by the results of the Bootstrapping method. The findings were discussed in the related literature. Keywords Parental acceptance-rejection, social anxiety symptoms, positive/negative emotion regulation strategies