Is Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Beneficial for All? Examining the Relationship With Psychological Well-Being in the Context of Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety.

Introduction: Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) involves seeking out others to modify one's own emotions and is theorized to benefit health and well-being. While there is evidence of the association between IER and subjective well-being, it is unclear how IER processes are associated with psychological well-being and whether the associations between IER and well-being are similar at different levels of psychopathology, such as depression and anxiety symptoms.

Methods: Participants (N = 147) completed measures of psychological well-being, depression, anxiety, and IER within their social networks (i.e., how frequently they seek IER from social network partners and the efficacy of these IER attempts).

Results: We found that perceived efficacy of IER, but not frequency of IER, was positively associated with psychological well-being, above and beyond overall social network quality and size. Additionally, symptoms of depression and anxiety each moderated the relationship between IER-efficacy and psychological well-being, such that the relationship between IER-efficacy and psychological well-being was weaker at higher levels of symptoms. These findings are consistent with the possibility that IER is less beneficial for those experiencing greater psychological distress.

Discussion: These findings highlight the importance of understanding for whom and under what circumstances IER is most strongly associated with well-being.