Integrating personality, daily life events and emotion: Role of anxiety and positive affect in emotion regulation dynamics

AbstractA better understanding of emotion regulation (ER) within daily life is a growing focus of research. This study evaluated the average use of two ER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and concurrent and lagged relationships between these two ER strategies and affect (positive and negative affect) in the daily lives of adolescents. We also investigated the role of the same strategies at the trait level on these within-person relationships. Thirty-three adolescents provided 1,258 reports of their daily life by using the Experience Sampling Method for one week. Regarding the relative use of ER strategies, cognitive reappraisal (M = 2.87, SD = 1.58) was used more often than expressive suppression (M = 2.42, SD = 1.21). While the use of both strategies was positively correlated when evaluated in daily life (p = .01), the same did not occur at the trait level (p = .37). Multilevel analysis found that ER strategies were concurrently related to affect (p < .01), with the exception of cognitive reappraisal-positive affect relationship (p = .11). However, cognitive reappraisal predicted higher positive affect at the subsequent sampling moment ( β = 0.07, p = .03). The concurrent associations between cognitive reappraisal and negative affect vary as function of the use of this strategy at the trait level (β = 0.05, p = .02). Our findings highlighted the complex associations between daily ER strategies and affect of a normative sample of adolescents.

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Emotion regulation strategy selection in daily life: The role of social context and goals

Motivation and Emotion ◽

10.1007/s11031-016-9597-z ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 230-242 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Tammy English ◽

Ihno A. Lee ◽

Oliver P. John ◽

James J. Gross

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Social Context ◽

Daily Life ◽

Strategy Selection ◽

Emotion Regulation Strategy

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Adverse Life Events and Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Adolescence: The Role of Coping and Emotion Regulation

Stress and Health ◽

10.1002/smi.2478 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 360-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Eirini Flouri ◽

Stella Mavroveli

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Life Events ◽

Behavioural Problems ◽

Emotional And Behavioural Problems ◽

Adverse Life Events

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The Role of Positive Affect in Aggression

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0963721417700457 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 366-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

David S. Chester

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Aggressive Behavior ◽

Biological Mechanisms ◽

New Approach ◽

Effective Interventions

Aggressive behavior hurts us all and is studied across psychology’s subdisciplines. Classical theories discuss the causes of aggression in the context of negative affect (e.g., frustration, pain). However, more recent research implicates positive affect as an important correlate and cause of aggression. Such aggressive pleasure likely evolved from ancient predatory tendencies that later yielded reproductive benefits, holds across reactive and proactive forms of aggression, and is used strategically as an item in many people’s emotion-regulation toolkit. Findings from psychological and neural sciences have converged to detail aggression’s hedonically pleasant qualities and the motivational and biological mechanisms through which they occur. This new approach generates novel hypotheses and might lead to effective interventions that mollify mankind’s aggressive tendencies.

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Predicting short-term positive affect in individuals with social anxiety disorder: The role of selected personality traits and emotion regulation strategies

Journal of Anxiety Disorders ◽

10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.05.012 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 53-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jaclyn S. Weisman ◽

Thomas L. Rodebaugh ◽

Michelle H. Lim ◽

Katya C. Fernandez

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Social Anxiety ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Social Anxiety Disorder ◽

Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽

Short Term ◽

Regulation Strategies

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A Multi-Level Examination of Personality, Exercise, and Daily Life Events for Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly ◽

10.1123/apaq.23.2.129 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 129-147 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Peter R. Giacobbi ◽

Brent Hardin ◽

Nancy Frye ◽

Heather A. Hausenblas ◽

Sam Sears ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Life Events ◽

Daily Life ◽

Physical Disabilities ◽

Cognitive Appraisals ◽

Exercise Behavior ◽

Affective States ◽

Negative Affective States ◽

Moderating Role

We assessed within- and between-person associations among appraisals of daily life events, positive and negative affective states, and exercise behavior and the moderating role of personality for the exercise/affect relationship with individuals with physical disabilities. Forty-eight individuals with physical disabilities completed measures of personality and daily assessments of affect, exercise, and cognitive appraisals of life events for eight consecutive days. The results revealed that exercise behavior was associated with increased positive and decreased negative affect even when associations between daily events and affect were statistically controlled. Finally, aspects of personality, especially Neuroticism, significantly moderated the exercise/affect relationship for both positive and negative affect.

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Affective Benefits of Nature Contact: The Role of Rumination

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643866 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Gregory N. Bratman ◽

Gerald Young ◽

Ashish Mehta ◽

Ihno Lee Babineaux ◽

Gretchen C. Daily ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Daily Life ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Positive And Negative Affect ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Psychological Mechanisms ◽

Nature Contact

Mounting evidence shows that nature contact is associated with affective benefits. However, the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects are not well understood. In this study, we examined whether more time spent in nature was associated with higher levels of positive affect in general, and lower levels of negative affect and rumination in general. We also conducted a cross-sectional mediation analysis to examine whether rumination mediated the association of nature contact with affect. Participants (N = 617) reported their average time spent in nature each week, as well as their general levels of positive and negative affect, and the degree to which they typically engaged in rumination in daily life. We then used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Our results support the hypothesis that nature contact is associated with general levels of affect, and that rumination mediates this association for negative affect, and marginally mediates this association for positive affect.

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