Healthy emotionality protects from the detrimental well-being consequences of low economic status

Low economic status is linked to poorer mental and physical well-being, but individual differences in emotional and cognitive resources may buffer this relationship. Indeed, previous research has shown that people with low income but a high sense of control have comparable levels of life satisfaction and health to people with higher income. Building on this, we conducted two cross-sectional online studies with US participants to examine whether healthy emotionality—a predisposition to adaptive affective responses—buffers the negative effects of low economic status on well-being. In Study 1 (N = 259), participants completed the Emotional Style Questionnaire, rated their life satisfaction and health, and reported annual household income. In Study 2 (N = 902), we used more comprehensive assessments of income and well-being, and additionally compared the moderating effects of healthy emotionality and sense of control. In both studies, healthy emotionality significantly moderated the relationship between income and well-being: individuals with high healthy emotionality maintained higher well-being despite low economic status. This buffering effect remained significant when the sense of control was included in the model. These results suggest that healthy emotionality is a robust resilience factor against socioeconomic adversity that goes beyond the protective role of perceived control.