Emotional awareness, consisting of two facets-attention to emotion and emotional clarity-plays a crucial role in psychological distress. This meta-analysis examined the distinct relationships between the two facets of emotional awareness and distress across 307 studies involving 100,612 participants. Results showed that attention to emotion was not significantly associated with distress; however, the association became significant and positive after controlling for emotional clarity. Emotional clarity showed a moderate negative correlation with distress, which remained consistent even after accounting for attention to emotion. These findings suggest that emotional clarity may be essential in reducing psychological distress, while excessive attention to emotion, when not accompanied by emotional clarity, may exacerbate psychological distress. These findings underscore the importance of fostering emotional clarity in interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress by enhancing emotional awareness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).