This cross-sectional study examined associations among emotional self-regulation, self-care, and quality of life (QoL) among 111 Portuguese emerging adult university students (aged 18–29) with chronic conditions. Participants completed validated measures of emotion regulation (DERS-SF), self-care (SC-CII v4. c), and QoL (WHOQOL-bref). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that self-care maintenance emerged as the strongest positive predictor across all QoL domains (physical, psychological, social, environmental), consistently surpassing emotional regulation factors after controlling for sociodemographics. Emotion regulation difficulties (strategies, goals, awareness, and non-acceptance) showed negative associations, particularly with physical, psychological, and environmental QoL, while age at diagnosis negatively predicted physical and psychological QoL. These findings underscore emotional regulation and self-care as critical intervention targets to enhance well-being during the university transition for emerging adults managing chronic illnesses.
Marques et al. (Mon,) studied this question.