When it comes to studying the way people manage their emotions, there are two traditions. On the one hand, we find the approach from coping strategies and on the other the study from the ability to regulate one’s own emotions.
The first comes from social psychology and defines coping as the awareness and efforts of the individual to regulate an emotion, a cognition, a behavior, one’s own physiology and the environment in response to a stressful event or circumstance It is a regulatory process in a series of contexts that involve stress.
The second refers to a process through which subjects modulate their emotions, consciously and unconsciously to respond appropriately to environmental demands. Emotions to be considered adaptive must be flexible, adapted to the person’s situations and objectives, and the level of activation must be adjusted in such a way that it is sufficient, manageable and tolerable. In this way, the modulation that subjects make of their emotions occurs at the level of intensity and duration of the experience and expression of the emotion, having a functional meaning. Understanding this type of regulation as a multidimensional construct that includes the regulation of affects (specifically emotional instability and the intensity of expression of emotions) and behavioral and attention regulation.
Both can be taken into account in addition to each other for a better understanding of the way in which individuals relate emotionally to their environment. In fact, some authors have tried to equate the terms used by both approaches.
Regarding emotional regulation and the topic at hand, difficulties in regulating emotions are associated with risk behaviors such as consumption of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, which It also happens with sexual behaviors
Psychological dynamics linked to risky sexual behaviors
As with attachment and taking into account that emotions are related to a series of sexual aspects, emotional regulation is of key importance in psychosexual health. Sexual desire as an emotion must be regulated and problems in its regulation are also related to risky sexual behaviors. Consequently, young people who have emotional regulation problems report a lack of STI prevention, especially at times that promote greater emotional activation.
Thus, problems in emotional regulation, in addition to poor emotional awareness in middle childhood, are associated with a higher number of sexual partners, greater frequency of sexual behaviors and greater sexual risk behaviors in adolescence Furthermore, there are longitudinal studies in which it is observed how emotional regulation constitutes a relevant predictor of levels of sexual risk throughout adolescence.
A dysfunctional way of dealing with emotions
Another way of relationship between both variables is the use of sexuality to regulate and cope with emotionally stressful situations.
There is evidence that among adolescents with emotional regulation difficulties, the use of sex and other behaviors such as alcohol consumption is common. to alleviate your negative emotional states, which can precipitate unprotected sexual contacts. Along these lines, those adolescents who used sex as a way to regulate negative emotions had a greater number of sexual partners, exposing themselves more to STIs and unwanted pregnancies. These subjects also participate more in potentially risky activities such as exchanging texts and explicit photos of sexual content of the person themselves.
As we have just seen, there is evidence that difficulties in emotional regulation are associated with risky behaviors in general and risky sexual behaviors in particular. But we can also put the focus on the way in which adolescents deal with their emotions.
In the literature on coping we can differentiate, among others, two types of strategies: adaptive or productive, on the one hand, and maladaptive or unproductive, on the other In this way, people with a lack of effective coping skills could use risky behaviors to compensate for their emotional regulation deficits.
One of the coping strategies considered poorly adaptive is avoidance. That is, avoiding facing the problem, evading it, denying it or delegating its solution to external factors. Adolescents who use this type of strategies show lower psychological well-being and report strategies related to self-blame, keeping the problem to oneself, ignoring the problem or reducing tension with other activities. This is usually the case, of people with avoidant attachment style and reveals the attempt to feel better through activities that reduce stress, such as drinking alcohol. These are evasive resources in which the adolescent does not assume an active role.
On the other hand, those who have better psychological well-being use active coping strategies, They focus on solving the problem, seek social support, and focus on the positive They take into account different points of view to solve problems, showing cognitive flexibility. Among these there is a greater search for social support, which serves as support for young people to successfully face daily life situations and take fewer risks.
Among the aforementioned strategies of avoidance, evasion or reduction of tension through other activities, we have the consumption of alcohol and other drugs or the performance of sexual activities; behaviors that, as has been mentioned, may be related.
In conclusion
Having sex as a way to cope with “negative emotions” or intense emotional states is associated with greater risky sexual behaviors Furthermore, engaging in early risky behavior, especially if one has little social support, can lead to developing maladaptive coping patterns. And in all this, the developed attachment style has a lot to do with it, which, if secure, encourages adequate emotional regulation and adaptive coping tools that allow the individual to get involved in fewer risk situations.
Author: Borja Luque, General Health Psychologist and Sexologist at Vitaliza Health Psychology.
