Impact of an emotional regulation skills training program on the level of negative emotions in situation of exam: analysis of interactive effects with gender

Abstract

There was evaluated the effectiveness of an emotional regulation skills training program for university students analyzing its impact on negative emotions that experience before take an exam. Throughout six weeks, there was requested to students were present at a weekly meeting of an hour of duration. The program involved a psycho-educational module where explanations were transmitted on the functioning of the emotions, the second module centered on cognitive techniques that involving reinterpretation-based emotion regulation strategies and decrease of rumination, and finally, a module centered on relaxation strategies. To evaluate the level of negative emotions, the subscale of negative emotions of Positive Affect-Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) was administrated before take an exam. This scale was administrated in a control group too. The information was analyzed in a two-way factorial ANOVA, because it was trying to examine in addition if the gender of participants was interacting with the effects of training program. The obtained results suggest that the participants who received treatment showed low levels of negative emotions during the execution of an exam in relation to control group (F =2.22; p˂0.05). Similarly, is observed a significant interactive effects with gender of students (F =8.73; p˂0.05), which demonstrated that the program presents a major effect on men. Although new researchers would be needed to determine with major accuracy the factors that cause an effect of interaction with gender, the obtained results maintain the effectiveness of an emotional regulation skills training program to diminish the levels of negative emotions in situation of exam.