Emotion polyregulation and daily negative affect: predictors of use and strategy-level effectiveness

Emotion polyregulation is an essential aspect of responding to stressful events by employing multiple strategies to influence one's emotions. The patterns of emotion polyregulation that effectively mitigate negative affect remain largely unknown.

The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between adaptive real-world usage of daily emotion polyregulation and daily negative affect, considering differences in emotional intensity and momentary synergistic strategy selection.

During March-June 2023, 106 university students completed a 7-day ecological momentary assessment procedure reporting on emotion polyregulation usage and negative affect between two in-person lab sessions, with supplementary measurement of heart rate variability (HRV) and cognitive control ability.

Higher event intensity and lower emotion dysregulation predicted greater strategy use during an emotional event. Additionally, greater event intensity and emotion dysregulation predicted greater daily negative affect. Within instances of polyregulation, greater use of situation selection and reinterpretation predicted lower daily negative affect.

These findings shed light on which individual differences and situational factors predict emotion polyregulation use. Practically, these findings can inform the development of targeted emotion polyregulation interventions that train individuals to deploy adaptive strategies (i.e., situation selection and reinterpretation) particularly in high-intensity contexts where regulation is most needed.