Cognitive emotion regulation strategies among Chinese adolescents having unprotected sex: a latent profile analysis

The association between cognitive emotion regulation strategy use and adolescents’ risk behavior has long been emphasized. To identify coping profiles of Chinese adolescents having unprotected sex and to examine the characteristics and associations among those subgroups, 541 adolescents (age, 14–19 years) were screened from secondary schools in 10 Chinese cities. By latent profile analysis (LPA), the participants were identified into three latent profiles: the low reaction profile (LRP, N = 70), the medium reaction profile (MRP, N = 369), and the high reaction profile (HRP, N = 102) based on nine subscales of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). By one-way analysis of variance, chi-square tests, and multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that: the HRP has the highest level of using eight strategies and the lowest unprotected sex, meanwhile the LRP has the lowest level of using nine strategies and the highest unprotected sex among three groups (both p < .05). The low response coping was more prevalent among boys and younger students. It indicates that more active cognitive coping, using both adaptive and maladaptive strategies, may associate with less unprotected sex. The programs of enhancing active copying may be targeted in interventions aiming to reduce adolescent unprotected sex.