Influence of emotional regulation capacity on loneliness among university students: the suppressing effect of solitude coping and the mediating effect of solitude comfort

BackgroundContemporary college students often experience significant loneliness. This study was aimed to explore the role of solitude capacity in the association between emotional regulation capacity and loneliness of college students.MethodsFrom June 10th to July 5th 2025, 814 college students were selected to participate in a questionnaire survey using Emotion Regulation Scale (ERSQ), the solitude capacity scale (SCS), and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The suppressing effect and the mediating effects of solitude coping and solitude comfort between college students' emotional regulation capacity and loneliness were tested.ResultsThe score of the emotional regulation capacity of university students was (69.65 ± 16.56), the score of solitude capacity was (55.92 ± 7.06), the score of solitude coping was (27.39 ± 4.04), the score of solitude comfort was (28.52 ± 3.87), and the score of loneliness was (40.43 ± 10.82). Emotional regulation capacity was significantly positively correlated with solitude and its two dimensions (P 0.05). However, solitude coping was significantly positively correlated with loneliness (r = 0.186, P < 0.01), and solitude comfort was significantly negatively correlated with loneliness (r = −0.090, P < 0.01). Solitude coping showed a suppressing effect between emotional regulation capacity and loneliness, with the suppressing effect accounting for 22.54% of the direct effect, while solitude comfort showed a mediating effect between emotional regulation capacity and loneliness, with the mediating effect accounting for 20.81% of the direct effect.ConclusionsSolitude coping suppresses the relationship between emotional regulation capacity and loneliness, while solitude comfort mediates this relationship.