Attachment Styles and Reflective Functioning as Predictors of Emotion Regulation and Management among Indian Youth

Emotional regulation plays an important role in how young adults understand, express, and manage their emotions in everyday life. The ability to regulate emotions flexibly becomes especially important during youth, as individuals navigate academic, social, and interpersonal challenges. Attachment styles and reflective functioning may influence this process by shaping how individuals understand their own and others’ mental states. Though the existing literature is replete with findings on attachment style and emotion regulation, the influence of reflective functioning on emotion regulation flexibility remains largely unexplored, especially in the context of Indian young adults. Therefore, the present study seeks to explore the relationship among attachment style, reflective functioning, and emotion regulation flexibility among Indian young adults. A quantitative correlational research design was used with a sample of 206 Indian college students aged 18 to 25 years by having them complete the ECR-S scale, RFQ scale and the FREE scale. The findings indicated a positive association of attachment anxiety with uncertainty in reflective functioning. Reflective functioning uncertainty was negatively associated with emotion regulation flexibility. Regression analysis further indicated that reflective functioning dimensions, namely uncertainty and certainty, significantly predicted emotion regulation flexibility, whereas attachment anxiety and avoidance did not directly predict it. The study highlights the importance of reflective functioning in understanding emotional adaptability among young adults and suggests that enhancing mentalization may support better emotional regulation flexibility.