Publication: The role of emotional regulation in the relationship between anxiety and prospective mental imagery among young adults in Malaysia
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Date
2025
Authors
Sa’ad, Norsyafira
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Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between anxiety and prospective mental imagery (PMI) moderated by emotion regulation strategies among young adults in Malaysia. Mental imagery (MI) is a higher-order cognitive process that involves creating and manipulating mental representations of sensory experiences without direct external stimuli. MI is a broad field of study, typically categorized into three main areas, which are cognitive imagery, general uses of imagery, and clinical imagery, where it has been called PMI. PMI is the capacity to vividly imagine future events, where it plays a key role in planning and anticipating outcomes, and anxiety is proposed to intensify this process, often resulting in more intrusive and emotionally charged imagery. Thus, emotion regulation strategies may influence this dynamic by modifying the emotional impact of imagined future events. This study employed a cross-sectional correlation, using a convenience sampling method, and was conducted via online questionnaires that consisted of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Impact of Future Events Scale (IFES). A total of 207 participants met the inclusion criteria and were aged between 18 to 29 years old. A correlation analysis revealed that anxiety positively correlated with the PMI (ρ= .610). Emotion regulation strategies, particularly expressive suppression also shown positive correlation with PMI (ρ= .273), while cognitive reappraisal did not significantly correlate with PMI. Moderation analysis result found out that neither expressive suppression nor cognitive reappraisal moderate the relationship between anxiety and PMI (p>.05). This finding highlights the importance of considering mental imagery as a cognitive feature that may contribute to the maintenance or intensity of anxiety symptoms. However, as the sample consisted of non-clinical participants, findings may not
generalize to clinical populations. Future research should investigate anxiety subtypes and clinical samples to further delineate these relationships.
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Keywords
anxiety , prospective mental imagery