Emotion regulation strategies and satisfaction with life: mediating roles of positive and negative mind-wandering.

Abstract

Background: Habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion regulation strategies has been shown to relate differently to dispositional positive and negative affect and satisfaction with life. In this study, we aimed to establish the role of affectively different forms of mind-wandering - i.e., spontaneously initiated thinking about matters unrelated to the individual's current task and the immediate environment - in the associations between the employment of each of these strategies and life satisfaction. Our main theoretical idea was that affective consequences of employing cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression influence positive and negative mind-wandering, which contribute to satisfaction with life.

Participants and procedure: A convenient sample of 217 respondents (154 women) aged 19-88 (M = 44.97, SD = 17.16) filled out questionnaires assessing variables of interest: the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Trait, the Task-Unrelated Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale.

Results: In the estimated PLS-SEM structural model, there were significant indirect paths leading from emotion regulation strategies to satisfaction with life through 1) positive or negative affect and positive or negative mind-wandering as sequential mediators, 2) positive affect (over and above its associations with positive and negative mind-wandering), 3) positive and negative mind-wandering (due to their negative associations with suppression).

Conclusions: Positive and negative mind-wandering may mediate the relationships between the frequency with which individuals employ cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression to regulate emotions and their global life satisfaction.