Teachers' caring behavior and problem behaviors in adolescents: The mediating roles of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression

This study focused on the correlation among teachers' caring behavior, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression and problem behaviors in adolescents and tested whether cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression mediate between teachers' caring behavior and problem behaviors in adolescents. Participants were 570 Chinese middle school students who reported measures of teachers' caring behavior, problem behaviors and strategies of emotion regulation. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap mediation tests were used. The results showed that teachers' caring behavior significantly negatively predicted problem behaviors in adolescents. Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were found to play a mediating role between teachers' caring and problem behaviors in adolescents.