Do motives matter? Short- and long-term motives as predictors of emotion regulation in everyday life.

Abstract

The ability to consider the future is critical to many human behaviors. Individuals who consider future outcomes of their actions are more likely to report using emotion regulation strategies that have enduring effects on feelings. However, there has been little examination of how variation in short- and long-term motives across events predicts emotion regulation strategy use. We examined the roles of both interindividual and intraindividual variation in short- and long-term motives in emotion regulation in daily life, while controlling for hedonic and instrumental motives. In a daily diary study (Study 1) and a mobile application study (Study 2), participants (N = 107 and N = 98) reported on their short- and long-term motives for regulation and their use of multiple emotion regulation strategies across multiple negative events. Across both studies, momentary long-term motives were predictive of several strategies, including problem-solving and reappraisal, both of which are associated with more positive mental health outcomes in the long-term. The results suggest that people s long-term motives vary across contexts and relate to the implementation of different regulatory strategies, and that these associations are at least partially independent of the role of hedonic and instrumental motives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).