Context Matters, Doesn't It? The Role of Context in Everyday Emotion Regulation Strategy Use

A common maxim holds that "context is everything." This perspective transformed the field of emotion regulation, which evolved from understanding which regulation strategies people use, to understanding how strategy use varies by context (i.e., strategy-situation fit). Theoretical accounts suggest contextual features are crucial in guiding strategy use. However, empirical evidence is isolated in piecemeal studies with inconclusive results. To comprehensively explore context-dependent emotion regulation, we need data on emotion regulation across many contexts, at scale. Combining up to 11 experience-sampling data sets collected from Belgian and Australian samples in an integrative analysis (N_ID = 500-1,696, N_observations = 27,023-101,114, M_age = 25.38 years, 71% women), we examined how regulation-strategy use varies as a function of three theory-derived contextual features-intensity, controllability, and social features (i.e., the presence and closeness of others). We found limited support that context matters for daily emotion-regulation strategy use. Our study provides a well-powered foundational step to test a theory central to emotion-regulation research and highlights the complexity of capturing strategy-situation fit in daily life.