Responding To Context

Flexibly responding to contexts is central to effective emotion regulation(ER).To meet contextual demands,choosing ER strategies variably(strategy selection)was proposed by previous studies,yet endorsing one’s strategy repertoire accordingly(strategy endorsement)was neglected.This study is the first to tackle both regulatory processes,testing whether their associations with contextual factors are related to short-term or long-term well-being.An ambulatory assessment design was employed among 60 participants during 7 consecutive days,wherein we measured emotion-eliciting intensity and intensity extremity as contextual factors,strategy selection and endorsement as regulatory processes,pleasure as short-term well-being.Questionnaires were used to measure depress,anxiety,stress,neuroticism,self-esteem and index of well-being as long-term well-being.Mixed linear effects modeling and simple-slope analysis were applied to test the cross-level moderation of long-term well-being and individual-level moderation of short-term well-being in associations between regulatory processes and contextual factors.We found significant interactions between long-term,rather than short-term,well-being and contextual factors in predicting both regulatory processes.Specifically,people with higher long-term well-being increase strategy endorsement and decrease strategy selection as emotion-eliciting intensity inflates Theoretically,this study elaborates the definition of ER flexibility by adopting the view of regulatory process and multi-timescale well-being.Practically,this study highlights the importance of sensitivity to changes of emotion-eliciting intensity and superiority of strategy endorsement beyond selection in ER flexibility to meet contextual demands...