Future Thinking Pattern of University Students During COVID 19: Do Emotion Regulation and Perceived Interpersonal Support Relate with It?

Background: The novel coronavirus has made havoc on every single sector of life, and the educational sector has faced a momentous chunk of its effect. It is difficult to assume anything about the future as the whole scenario is an epitome of uncertainty. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of emotion regulation and perceived interpersonal/social support with future thinking propensity of undergraduate university students. Additionally, the study explored whether they serve as predictors of future thinking during these unconventional times of a pandemic. Design: A total of 319 university students living in different districts of Bangladesh took part in an online survey and completed measures of future thinking, interpersonal support, and emotion regulation strategies. Results: Results stated that cognitive reappraisal was negatively and expressive suppression was positively correlated with pessimistic repetitive future thinking and both techniques were significant predictors of it. In the case of perceived interpersonal support, findings demonstrated that tangible support had a negative association with pessimistic future thinking and also played a significant role in predicting it. The results further showed that the regression model can explain 14.5% variances in pessimistic repetitive future thinking. However, the remaining two types of future thinking (repetitive thinking about future goals and positive indulging about the future) did not express any significant association with these two variables. Conclusion: The outcomes of the present research provided insights about the importance of using the cognitive reappraisal strategy and having tangible interpersonal support to control the emergence of negative future thinking during crises.