The effects of suppression of positive and negative emotions on loneliness in Turkish University-attending emerging adults: does gender make a difference?

This study aimed to examine the predictive effect of suppression of positive and negative emotions on loneliness and whether gender moderated the relationship between them in the Turkish population. The sample consisted of 408 (286 females and 122 males) university-attending emerging adults aged 18–25 (M = 20.98, SD = 1.61). The participants completed the measures of suppression sub-dimension of emotion regulation and loneliness, as well as a demographic survey. The results demonstrated that suppression of positive and negative emotions positively predicted loneliness regardless of gender. The findings also indicated that although males compared to females reported significantly greater suppression of positive and negative emotions, there was no significant difference between females and males on loneliness. In conclusion, in the socio-cultural context, hiding emotions in males reduced the socially punishing aspects of suppression but could not provide social gains. Lastly, the findings were discussed in the literature context.