Cognitive emotion regulation and stress: a multiple mediation approach

Background and purpose Chronic stress leads to deficits in executive functions; its effect on cognitive emotion regulation has yet to be investigated. The present study explores the possible role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in mediating the well-established association between perceived stress and anxiety. We assumed it should be that, via impaired prefrontal activity and executive functions, stress leads to the reduced use of executive strategies and the increased use of non-executive strategies, resulting in higher levels of anxiety.