Abstract
Emotion regulation may affect levels of psychological distress of cancer survivors, but inconsistences exist among studies regarding the direction of this effect. The systematic review and meta‐analysis sought to estimate the associations between emotion regulation patterns (repression, experiential avoidance, suppression, and cognitive reappraisal) and psychological distress among cancer survivors. Fifteen studies met inclusion criteria for systematic review and seven studies focusing on suppression were included in the meta‐analysis. The systematic review pointed to a marked variability in associations among the emotion regulation patterns and psychological distress. The three meta‐regressions of the relationships between suppression and psychological distress found significant fixed‐ and random‐effects sizes (except marginal significance of a random‐effects model for partial correlation). Subgroup analysis showed no moderation effect of time since diagnosis or study quality, but a significant difference (fixed‐effect model only, p = .005) were found between correlative studies and those controlling for confounders. The current study suggests that suppression is related to elevated levels of psychological distress among cancer survivors, although large inconsistencies exist among studies and publication bias could not be ruled out. Further studies with large samples and a consistent approach are thus required to evaluate the associations of emotion regulation patterns and psychological distress.
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