Introduction: Early adolescence has been defined as a sensitive developmental period for psychological well-being. As children transition into early adolescence, they begin to regulate their emotions independently of their caregivers and they integrate cognitive processes into their emotion regulation. Brain maturation during early adolescence facilitates the emotion regulation strategy of cognitive reappraisal, whereby adolescents develop the ability to change how they think about an emotion-evoking stimulus to then change how they feel in any given moment. The development of cognitive reappraisal has been found to improve psychological well-being among adults. However, there has been a lack of empirical research identifying the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and psychological well-being among early adolescents. As such, there is a need to highlight gaps in knowledge and to identify and summarise the key findings that have examined cognitive reappraisal and psychological well-being during early adolescence.Methods: The current scoping review will adhere to the guidelines of Arksey and O’Malleys’ scoping review methodology (2005). Five research databases (PsychArticles, PsychINFO, EBSCO, ERIC and Education Source) and two unpublished/grey literature databases (NICE-UK and OpenGrey) will be used to identify relevant literature. Two independent reviewers will then screen the identified studies in accordance with pre-specified eligibility criteria and extract data based on evidence source characteristics, and details regarding the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and psychological well-being. The data will then be charted, organised into main findings and presented as a narrative summary.Discussion: The findings from the scoping review will give an overview of the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and psychological well-being among early adolescents and provide future directions to account for gaps in the research. The results will be disseminated through journals, conferences, blogs and podcasts related to adolescent development, adolescent health and emotion regulation.
The relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and psychological well-being.