Flexible Emotion Regulatory Selection in 10–12-Year-Old Children Coping With Negative Emotions

Regulatory flexibility, the ability to adapt emotion regulation strategies to contextual demands, is considered a key component of adaptive functioning, yet its developmental emergence in childhood remains insufficiently understood. The present two-study investigation examined whether children exhibit context-sensitive (adult-like) patterns of regulatory strategy selection and how individual differences shape this pattern. In Study 1, we developed and validated a set of ecologically relevant stimuli varying in emotional intensity among 10–12-year-old children (N = 30). In Study 2 (N = 58), children selected between cognitive reappraisal and distraction in response to low- and high-intensity situations. Results indicated a context-sensitive pattern of regulatory selection, reflected in greater use of reappraisal in low-intensity contexts and distraction in high-intensity contexts. This pattern reflects a stimulus-driven operationalization of regulatory flexibility, defined as a systematic association between emotional intensity and strategy choice. Furthermore, individual differences were associated with variability in this pattern: Higher academic achievement was linked to a more pronounced context-sensitive profile, whereas higher anxiety was associated with reduced use of reappraisal in low-intensity contexts. These findings suggest that context-sensitive regulatory selection is evident in late childhood and is shaped by cognitive and emotional characteristics.