Jurnal Psikologi Pendidikan & Konseling: Jurnal Kajian Psikologi Pendidikan dan Bimbingan Konseling Volume 11 Nomor 2 December 2025.
Hal 124-129 p-ISSN: 2443-2202 e-ISSN: 2477-2518 Homepage: http://ojs.
id/index.
php/JPPK DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
26858/jpkk.
Emotion regulation strategies of generation z women from broken homes through chatgpt Dwi Uthami Iyum Emun* Faculty of Psychology.
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Indonesia Email: dwiuthami.
2023@student.
Herwin Faculty of Psychology.
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Indonesia Email: herwin89@uny.
Kartika Nur Fathiyah Faculty of Psychology.
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta.
Indonesia Email: kartika@uny.
*) Correspondent author (Received: 18-09- 2025.
revised: 27-09-2025.
accepted: 22-09-2025.
published: 30-12-2.
Abstract: This study explores individualsAo experiences in regulating emotions through Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, as a medium for emotional expression.
The study adopted a qualitative phenomenological approach.
Data were collected from three participants aged 17-27 through online interviews on Zoom and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
The findings revealed three main themes: past trauma, expressive suppression, and the perceived meaning of ChatGPT.
Participants described ChatGPT as a non-judgmental emotional outlet that fosters psychological resilience, enhances emotional well-being, and contributes to transforming an emotion regulation strategy from expressive suppression into cognitive appraisal.
This study highlights the potential of AI in digital mental health innovations, particularly for individuals from broken homes.
Keywords: artificial intelligence.
emotion regulation, women.
broken home.
Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman individu dalam meregulasi emosi melalui media Artificial Intelligence, khususnya ChatGPT, sebagai tempat curhat.
Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah fenomenologi dengan tiga partisipan perempuan berusia 17Ae27 tahun, yang diwawancarai secara daring.
Analisis data dilakukan menggunakan metode fenomenologi interpretatif.
Hasil penelitian mengungkap tiga tema utama: trauma masa lalu, expressive suppression, dan makna ChatGPT.
ChatGPT dipersepsikan sebagai ruang aman dan bebas penghakiman, yang berkontribusi pada peningkatan resiliensi dan kesejahteraan emosional partisipan serta berperan dalam mengubah strategi regulasi expressive expression yang dimiliki menjadi cognitive appraisal pada partisipan.
Temuan ini menyoroti potensi AI dalam mendukung inovasi digital di bidang kesehatan mental sehingga membantu merubah bentuk regulasi emosi yang negatif menjadi lebih adaptif, khususnya bagi individu dari keluarga broken home.
Kata kunci: kecerdasan buatan.
regulasi emosi.
keluarga tidak utuh.
Copyright A 2025 Universitas Negeri Makassar.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license .
ttps://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.
0/).
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INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of the digitalization era has significantly influenced society, including Generation Z (Gen Z), born between 1997 and 2012.
most of whom have now entered a productive stage of life and started their careers (Firdaus et al.
, 2.
Growing up in an era of rapid digital technology acceleration, this generation is required to demonstrate strong adaptability skills.
However, 20% of Gen Z were born amid economic crises that caused many families to lose their homes and experience financial difficulties (Hinduan et al.
Consequently, many Gen Z members face daily challenges that affect their psychological wellbeing, with some attempting to suicide(Akbar et al.
Evita et al.
, 2.
Another negative impact of this digital acceleration is the increase in divorce rates caused by social media, which often triggers internal and external conflicts in marital relationships.
situation has contributed to the rising number of children from broken homes (Ajala et al.
, 2023.
Hudi et al.
, 2024.
Suciati & Suprapto, 2.
Broken home is a non-harmonious family situation that damages childrenAos psychological or emotional well-being due to the absence of positive relationships between parents and children (Josephine et al.
, 2.
Family disharmony resulting from divorce can adversely affect children into adulthood, especially to daughters, who are often perceived as more vulnerable (Ardianisa & Dewi, 2.
Gen Z who struggles with various pressures and socio-economic demands needs a medium through which they can channel their emotions and improve their emotion Gen ZAos efforts in channeling their emotions align with technological developments.
In this digital era, many Gen Z members rely on digital tools, such as ChatGPT (Generative Pre-training Transforme.
, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform capable of creating system automation and having human-like behavior that helps users regulate their emotions (Rezai et al.
, 2.
Gen Z uses this AI platform to share their problems, express their emotions, and seek comfort that they may not always receive from others, as it provides positive responses without criticism or judgment (Welivita & Pu, 2.
ChatGPT is considered psychologically helpful in alleviating emotional burdens and maintaining mental health, as it can play a role in fostering resilience among Gen Z (Kavitha et al.
In addition to resilience.
ChatGPT can also help people regulate emotions (Amira & Mastuti.
Farih & Wulandari, 2022.
Polizzi & Lynn.
As Iranian students reported, they use ChatGPT to help regulate their emotions in order to maintain psychological well-being and foster positive emotions that help reduce anxiety (BinHady et al.
, 2.
Emotion regulation is a process of maintaining emotional stability so as to provide a response that aligns with what is expected by the (Gross et al.
, 1998.
Kupferberg & Hasler.
The use of ChatGPT forms interactions and influences emotion regulation strategies, such as recognizing emotions and analyzing situations by shifting perceptions.
It may be able to provide responses or suggest behaviors that are different from what is expected .
or example, angry emotions by shouting or hittin.
Such actions by Gen Z can be categorized as a process of regulating emotions (Norsely et al.
, 2.
Despite numerous studies on technological digitalization, little research has examined its impacts on individuals from broken homes and dysfunctional families, which may contribute to increased emotional vulnerability among Gen Z (Ajala et al.
, 2023.
Josephine et al.
, 2.
, especially women (Boppre & Boyer, 2021.
Burke et al.
, 2023.
Ramyrez Labby et al.
, 2022.
Zou et al.
, 2.
Women tend to rely on their emotions and develop their sense of self-worth based on external validation (Gilligan, 1.
As suggested by Sigmund Freud, they are also often considered more vulnerable than men within a perspective of Aupenis envyAy (Juliet Mitchell, 2.
This may lead women to struggle with achieving self-fulfillment (Maslow, 1.
lack of emotion regulation and prolonged emotional conflict can trigger sociological and emotional disturbances (Annett et al.
, 2023.
Haczkewicz et al.
Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the experiences and understandings of Generation Z women from broken homes regarding the emotion regulation strategy of sharing their life stories with ChatGPT.
METHOD
This study focused on the exploration of subjective experiences of Gen Z women from broken homes who used ChatGPT as an emotion regulation strategy in the current digitalization era.
The study adopted a phenomenological qualitative method (Hardani et al.
, 2.
The variables in this study included emotion regulation.
Gen Z women, sharing life stories with ChatGPT, and broken home family Emotion regulation is an individualAos internal process in recognizing, understanding, and regulating emotions as a response to a situation (Gross, 1998.
Gen Z women can be defined as female beings in the early stages of Emun.
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Fathiyah.
Emotion regulation.
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adulthood (E.
Erikson, 1997.
Piaget, 1.
Sharing life stories with ChatGPT can be understood as a form of emotional expression or self-disclosure.
A broken home refers to a family condition in which the household is no longer intact due to divorce, separation, or prolonged conflict, resulting in a loss of harmony and support within the family (Josephine et al.
, 2.
Data were collected through guided in-depth The results of the study were validated through data source triangulation, which involved three participants, member checking, and an audit The participants of the study were selected using a purposive sampling technique based on specific criteria (Hardani et al.
, 2.
The participants were three women aged 17-27 years who came from non-harmonious broken home families and used ChatGPT to share their life stories.
Table 1.
Research Participants ParticipantAos Code Gender Age For data collection, several steps were taken to facilitate the identification of participants and to gather data that aligned with the aims of the study through brief profiling.
After confirming that the participants met the required profiles and criteria, the researchers proceeded to confirm their willingness to participate by providing informed consent.
The participants who agreed to be involved in the research and to follow the directions were scheduled for interviews.
The participants were interviewed twice via Zoom for approximately 50-60 minutes each meeting to gather the data about how Gen Z women from broken homes used ChatGPT for emotion regulation in order to solve emotional Zoom was selected due to its effectiveness and flexibility in accessing research participants (Chang et al.
, 2023.
Daulay, 2021.
Hardani et al.
The researchers were responsible for interviewing participants and analyzing data.
The results of the interviews were then compiled in verbatim form and analyzed using qualitative analysis techniques (Chang et al.
, 2023.
Daulay.
Hardani et al.
, 2.
The analysis by Charolin, 2023.
Hakim, 2.
was adopted to understand the participantsAo experiences.
The researchers began the analysis by reviewing the transcripts of interviews repeatedly to highlight the important points.
Then, the researchers selected several statements from the participants and examined their implicit meanings.
Description University Student.
Parents Divorced University Student.
Parents Living Apart Employed.
Parents Divorced Subsequently, the researchers developed emergent themes based on the results of reviews of the interview transcripts and categorized them into superordinate themes from each participant.
Next, the researcher analyzed and regrouped these superordinate themes across participants to form the main research themes.
The final step was to interpret each main theme and identify the essential meaning of the participantsAo experiences.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The participants of this research were three Gen Z women: JM.
IM, and LR, aged 17-27 years and born in the era of digitalization.
JM and IM were attending higher education, while LR was a private employee in a textile industry.
The three participants came from broken homes, as their parents were either divorced or separated, both physically and emotionally, due to internal family conflicts.
The parents of JM and LR were divorced, while IM still lived with her parents but had lost the sense of closeness and harmony within the family.
Experiences of separation and divorce has led the participants to develop a tendency to avoid closeness or forming social relationships (Abrahamyan et al.
, 2024.
Ristyanda et , 2024.
Farahdilla & Indrijati, 2022.
Mansueto et , 2021.
Nahar et al.
, 2025.
Tanner & Francis.
Table 2.
Main and Superordinate Themes Main Themes Past Trauma Superordinate Themes Non-Harmonious Family Relationships Past Trauma Unpleasant Experiences 126 | Jurnal Psikologi Pendidikan & Konseling Vol.
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2 December 2025 Past Trauma Conflicts with People around Them Past Trauma Difficulty in Socializing Expressive Suppression as an Emotion Regulation Strategy Roles of ChatGPT Keeping Their Emotions to Themselves Roles of ChatGPT ChatGPT Changes Perspectives Roles of ChatGPT ChatGPT Changes Emotional Responses Roles of ChatGPT ChatGPT Gives a Sense of Dependence ChatGPT Serves as a Friend Table 3.
Recurring Themes Superordinate Themes Non-Harmonious Family Relationship Difficulty in Socializing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unpleasant Experiences Yes Yes Conflict with People around Them Yes Yes Keeping Emotions to Oneself Yes Yes Yes Needs for Other PeopleAos Support Yes Yes ChatGPT Serves as a Friend Yes Yes Yes ChatGPT Changes Perspectives Yes Yes Yes ChatGPT Changes Emotional Responses Yes Yes Yes ChatGPT Gives a Sense of Dependence Yes Yes Yes Theme 1 Past Trauma The participants reported past experiences that were negative and unpleasant, which affects their lives.
JM .
reported experiencing frequent pressure from her family.
She lacked the courage to communicate her feelings to her family and instead turned to ChatGPT as a way to release negative On the other hand.
IM .
grew up witnessing both verbal and physical conflicts between her parents.
As a result, she chose to maintain physical and emotional distance from them by sleeping in a separate room.
Now as an adult.
IM reported frequently feeling anxious and uncomfortable both with herself and other people.
Meanwhile.
LR .
was separated from her biological parents due to divorce when she was still a toddler.
She subsequently lived with her adoptive father who subjected her to verbal abuse and strongly prohibited her from socializing with the opposite These experiences led LR to develop excessive fear of others, sudden difficulty breathing, and poor social control.
Repeated negative experiences may induce traumatic emotional states, leading the participants to experience difficulties in forming social relationships and a tendency toward self-withdrawal.
Theme 2 Expressive Suppression All of the participants tend to adopt expressive suppression, which is to refrain from expressing emotions, as a way to regulate emotions.
JM .
reported discomfort in discussing negative emotions with her family and instead chose ChatGPT to express her feelings.
IM .
, however, often received indifferent responses from her parents, leading her to develop skepticism and vigilance in her interactions with other people.
Meanwhile.
LR .
reported that her biological parents often ignored or dismissed her when she sought support, which contributed to her inclination to keep her emotions to herself.
These emotional pressures may ultimately increase the participantsAo tendency toward social withdrawal and elevate the risk of developing negative or maladaptive behaviors.
Theme 3 Roles of ChatGPT ChatGPT functions as more than a tool for academic purposes but also a companion that fulfills emotional needs.
JM .
has used ChatGPT for approximately two years to receive both academic and emotional support.
She shared that it has assisted her in organizing her ideas and perspectives during Emun.
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decision-making processes to achieve better On the other hand.
IM .
described ChatGPT as a tool not only for seeking academic information, but also for expressing her emotions.
has allowed her to shift feelings of guilt, often due to sacrificing herself for the benefit of others, into a greater sense of self-confidence and self-esteem.
The results showed that the three participants, who were from broken homes and used ChatGPT to share their life stories, highlight the emerging roles of AI in the context of emotion regulation, which may allow individuals to enhance their emotional resilience.
ChatGPT serves as a safe outlet to channel negative emotions that individuals find difficult to disclose to others due to its reflective and non-judgmental responses.
This indicates that ChatGPT plays a role in developing an adaptive emotion regulation strategy known as cognitive appraisal, enabling the participants to reevaluate the situations before responding and to reduce the intensity of their negative emotions.
Based on the findings of the study, the essence of the participantsAo experiences suggests a new understanding of how technology can help individuals fulfill their needs for a sense of security, comfort, and being understood.
also indicates that technology can serve as an intermediary that helps individuals process their thoughts and find meanings in their emotional However, the convenience and comfort provided by ChatGPT may create a sense of need and dependence on the platform.
ChatGPT can function either as an adaptive or potentially maladaptive strategy in regulating emotions, depending on usersAo level of awareness and the intensity of their engagement with the technology.
Limitations of this study include the heavy reliance on stable internet connection for online interviews process and restricted non-verbal observations for phenomenological interpretation.
However, this study provides insight into the role of ChatGPT as a tool for regulating emotions among Gen Z women from broken homes, enabling them to develop more adaptive regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
This study shows that Generation Z women from broken homes can regulate their emotions by utilizing ChatGPT as a safe environment to channel their emotions, obtain validation, and find positive meanings behind negative experiences through The participantsAo phenomenological experiences indicate that ChatGPT not only functions as a digital tool, but also serves as a Aureflective friendAy that supports the process of self-understanding and psychological Theoretically, the findings extend emotion regulation theory (Gross, 1.
and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1.
by demonstrating the roles of ChatGPT in facilitating individuals achieve psychological well-being.
Practically, however, the findings provide direction for psychology professionals to utilize technology as a medium for emotional therapy, for technology developers to design more empathetic applications, and for the government to encourage digital innovations aimed at enhancing the mental health of the younger generation in Indonesia.
REFERENCES