Psychological Problems in General Population During COVID-19 Pandemic: Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation

The objective of present research was two folds. First objective was to explore psychological problems (Anxiety, Depression and Stress) in general population during Covid-19 pandemic. Second purpose was to find predictive effects of cognitive emotion regulation on psychological problems. Convenient sampling technique was used to obtain the sample of 500 participants (Male=239, Female=261). Research instrument consists of four parts. First part comprised of consent form, second part was about demographic profile, third part was Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale (DASS-21) while Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was the last part of the instrument. SPSS 23.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version was used for study analysis. Descriptive statistics used to summarize the raw data. The inferential statistics such as regression, correlation and t-test were used to calculate the findings according to research objectives. Results indicated that 33%, 40% and 27% individuals were experiencing Depression, Anxiety and Stress respectively during Covid-19 pandemic. Among these participants, 48% (N=242) were experiencing normal level of all these targeted psychological problems while remaining 52% (N=258) respondents have mild to very severe level of all these disorders. Furthermore, findings of linear regression analysis illustrated that cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicts psychological problems [R 2 =.216; F = 51.223, p<.01] and 21% variation in psychological problems is due to cognitive emotion regulation. This study recommended that policy makers must develop and implement some necessary programmes to prevent and cure people from devastating psychological and mental health consequences of covid-19 on priority basis.Funding Statement:None to declare.Declaration of Interests: None to declare.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the ethical committee at the University of Gujrat, Department of Psychology.