The association between urban-rural disparities and emotional regulation abilities among first-year college students: a statistical indirect effects analysis of psychological and social competence.

Background: University students' emotional regulation abilities are crucial to their mental health. Existing research suggests that urban and rural backgrounds may be associated with emotional regulation among freshmen; however, the underlying mechanisms of this association remain unclear. Drawing on resource conservation theory and the bio-psycho-social model, this study examines whether psychological and social fitness exert statistical indirect effects on the relationship between urban-rural differences and emotional regulation. Methods: A cross-sectional design was employed to conduct a questionnaire survey of 6,718 first-year students at a comprehensive university. The measurement instruments included the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Emotion Regulation Difficulty Scale, and the Health Adaptation Scale. Control variables included gender, age, single-parent family status, and experience as a left-behind child. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to conduct a multiple mediation analysis, and the Bootstrap method was used to test statistical indirect effects, with a focus on the statistical indirect effects of psychological and social fitness. As this study employed a cross-sectional design with a sample drawn from a single university, the statistical indirect effects revealed reflect only statistical associations between variables and do not allow for inferences of causal relationships. Results: Rural freshmen exhibited significantly greater difficulties in emotional regulation than their urban counterparts, and both psychological and social fitness were significantly lower. Physical fitness was also significantly lower among rural freshmen. Physical, psychological, and social fitness all exhibited significant statistical indirect effects on the urban-rural differences and the three emotional regulation indicators. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that psychological adaptability had the strongest statistical indirect association with difficulties in emotional regulation; social fitness had relatively stronger statistical indirect associations with cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression; physical fitness showed statistically significant but comparatively smaller indirect effects. The results remained robust after controlling for single-parent family status and experience as a left-behind child. The effect sizes of urban-rural differences across variables ranged from 0.05 to 0.24, falling within the small-effect range; statistical significance should not be equated with practical significance, and urban-rural background itself has limited explanatory power for differences in emotional regulation. Conclusion: Within the scope of this study, the association between urban-rural disparities and emotional regulation can be explained by the statistical indirect effects of physical, psychological, and social fitness, which serve as the three primary statistical indirect effect pathways. The study indicates that the association between urban-rural differences and emotional regulation is statistically mediated by individuals' physical, psychological, and social competence resources, providing preliminary exploratory targets for mental health interventions in higher education institutions. However, given the cross-sectional nature of the study, these conclusions require further validation through longitudinal research.