(PS10-76) Positive and Negative Emotion Regulation Across the Continuum of Mental Health: Exploring Differences from Languishing to Flourishing

Background: The mental health continuum describes different profiles of well-being (Keyes, 2002): (1) languishing (the lowest level of mental health), (2) moderate; and (3) flourishing (the highest levels of mental health). Emotion regulation (ER) emerges as a potential process in differentiating among these mental-health profiles. ER is conceived as the ability to understand, accept, and become aware of one’s emotions and develop strategies and behaviors oriented to that emotion. Despite the recognized impact of certain ER strategies  (i.e., dampening positive emotions) and difficulties (i.e., awareness of emotions) on overall well-being, a deeper understanding of how individuals across the well-being continuum differently manage the regulation of both positive and negative emotions remains limited. We hypothesized that flourishing (vs. languishing and moderate) will have a greater capacity to regulate both positive and negative emotions.

Aim: To explore the differences in positive ER strategies and negative ER difficulties across well-being profiles of the mental health continuum. Methods: A sample of 624 individuals (50.3% female) aged between 18 and 54 (M=29.55; SD=9.01) were classified according to their well-being levels: flourishing (n = 191; 28.85%), moderate (n = 412; 62.23%) and languishing (n = 59; 8.91%). Participants completed measures of positive ER (RPA, Feldman et al., 2008), negative ER (DERS, Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and well-being (MHC-SF, Keyes, 2009). Two MANOVA were performed with well-being profiles as a between-subject factor (flourishing vs. moderate vs. languishing) and negative ER (awareness, interference, clarity, non-acceptance, and control) and positive ER (emotion and self-focus savoring, and dampening) dimensions as dependent variables.

Results: MANOVA results showed significant differences in positive ER (RPA), V = .218, F(6, 1240) = 23.331, p < .001, η²_p = .109, and negative ER (DERS),  V = .242, F(10, 1288) = 17.742, p < .001, η²_p = .121. One-way ANOVAs for positive ER showed that flourishing (vs. moderate and languishing) individuals had significantly higher emotion-focused and self-focused savoring, as well as lower dampening. Regarding negative ER, flourishing (vs. moderate and languishing) individuals showed lower lack of clarity, non-acceptance, lack of awareness, interference, and lack of control. 

Discussion: The study suggests that flourishing (vs. moderate vs. languishing) individuals are not only better at regulating negative emotions, but also at regulating positive emotions. This underscores the critical role of fostering effective and appropriate ER strategies for both positive and negative emotions in promoting well-being. Thus, this study promotes a holistic view of mental health, emphasizing positive functioning alongside dysfunction reduction in clinical practice.