Emotional Regulation in Adolescence with Overthinking Tendencies: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by significant biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes. During this phase, adolescents often face academic pressures, social demands, and a search for self-identity, which can trigger various emotional responses. An inability to manage emotions adaptively has the potential to lead to a tendency toward overthinking. This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional regulation and the tendency toward overthinking in adolescents. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the assumption that emotional changes and increasing social pressures during adolescence require adequate emotional regulation skills. Low emotional regulation can lead to poorly managed negative emotions, thereby increasing the risk of overthinking. Conversely, high emotional regulation enables individuals to control emotional responses more adaptively, thereby minimizing the tendency toward overthinking. This study is a literature review using the scoping review method. The scoping review was conducted based on the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), which consists of five stages: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, selecting studies, mapping data, and synthesizing, summarizing, and reporting the results. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the development of psychological interventions focused on improving emotional regulation skills to prevent the negative effects of overthinking in adolescents.