Self-efficacy in sadness regulation as a daily protective factor for adolescents’ emotional well-being: an ecological study in a clinical sample of adolescents

Adolescence is a crucial developmental period for emotional regulation, and difficulties in managing negative emotions often contribute to the onset of depressive symptoms. Rumination is a cognitive risk factor that amplifies sadness and exacerbates depressive symptoms. However, this association may depend on individual resources, such as self-efficacy in regulating negative emotions (i.e., the belief in one’s capability to manage challenges related to the experience of negative emotions such as sadness). Yet, little is known about how these mechanisms interact in daily life. To examine the daily moderating role of self-efficacy in sadness regulation and sadness in the association between daily rumination and depressive symptoms. Participants were 80 adolescents in treatment for anxiety-depressive disorders, learning difficulties, or conduct problems (M = 14.97, SD = 2.27; 44% girls). For 15 consecutive days, they reported their levels of sadness, rumination, self-efficacy in sadness regulation, and depressive symptoms. Multilevel modeling was applied, including age and sex as covariates. Daily sadness predicted depressive symptoms both at the intraindividual (β = 0.24, p < .001) and interindividual (β = 0.26, p < .001) levels. At the intraindividual level, daily rumination was positively associated with daily depressive symptoms (β = 0.04, p = .006), whereas daily self-efficacy showed a negative association (β = -0.04, p = .029). A significant three-way interaction emerged among rumination, self-efficacy, and sadness (β = -0.10, p = .005). Simple slope analyses indicated that on days with higher sadness, the effect of rumination on depressive symptoms was weaker when self-efficacy was high suggesting that higher daily self-efficacy buffered the impact of rumination, particularly on high-sadness days. Findings highlight the importance of assessing cognitive-emotional processes in adolescents’ daily lives. Interventions aimed at enhancing self-efficacy in emotion regulation may improve emotional resilience and mental health outcomes among youth.