Emotional Regulation as Correlate of Mental Health of In School Adolescents for Sustainable Development in South East Nigeria:- Uzoka R.N

Abstract ' ' ' The study investigated the extent emotional regulation correlate with mental health ofin-school adolescents for sustainable development in South-East, Nigeria. The study adopted a correlational research design. Two research questions were posed and two corresponding null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level ofsignificance. The samplefor the study consisted of 1,989 SS II students drawn using multistage sampling techniques from a total population of 39,960 senior secondary two school students in government owned secondary schools in 2024/2025 academic session in South East, Nigeria. Two instruments titled Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) adoptedfrom Junghane et al (2022) and Mental Health Questionnaire (MHQ) adoptedfrom Deighton et al. (2012) were used for the study. ERQ was a 21-item questionnaire while MHQ had 20 items. All the questionnaire items were structured on a four point rating scale ofVery High Extent (VHE), High Extent (HE), Low Extent (LE) and Very Low Extent (VLE) weighted 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively. The ERQ and MHQ were validated by three experts. These experts were one from Educational Psychology, one from Guidance and Counselling and one expert from the Measurement and Evaluation; allfrom Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The stability of the instruments were determined using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and reliability indices of0.80 and 0.81 were obtained for ERQ and MHQ respectively. The internal consistency of the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha method and reliability indices of0.78 and 0.87 were obtained for ERQ and MHQ respectively. The researcher with the help ofsix briefed research assistants (two per state) who were secondary school teachers in South East, Nigeria used direct delivery’ and recovery approaches for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson’s r R2 coefficient ofdetermination) to answer the research questions, while linear regression analyses were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study indicated that: Emotional regulation (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) to a very high positive and significant extent correlated with mental health of in-school adolescents as cognitive reappraisal had 74.2% contribution and expressive suppression in emotional regulation predicted 71.1°% ofthe mental health of in-school adolescents. It was recommended among others that teachers and parents should help their children with cognitive appraisal and suppress negative emotion to find an alternative solution to experience positive mental health. Key: Emotional regulation, Mental health, In-school adolescents, Sustainable Development