Promoting subjective well-being through communication savoring

ABSTRACT

The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions articulates the merit of positive emotions in promoting well-being. Using an online two-group posttest-only randomized experimental design, this study examined the effects of communication savoring on subjective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, happiness, and life satisfaction) among young adults (M age = 20.97, SD = 1.91). After writing about a communication moment they savored and savoring the positive emotions derived from reminiscence, participants in the experimental group (n = 90) reported higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect compared to participants in the comparison group (n = 87) who wrote about a communication moment they recently experienced. Moreover, results showed that the one-time communication savoring intervention was indirectly related to higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction through both positive and negative affect. Results bolster recent theorizing about communication savoring as a distinctive positive communication construct.

KEYWORDS:

• Positive communication
• model of communication savoring
• emotions
• subjective well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jian Jiao

Jian Jiao is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. His primary research interests include close relationships and mental health.

Sara Kim

Sara Kim (PhD, University of Arizona) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Her teaching and research focus on interpersonal, intercultural, and intergroup online communication.

Margaret Jane Pitts

Margaret “Maggie” Pitts (PhD, Penn State) is Associate Professor of Communication and Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, of the Graduate College at the University of Arizona. Maggie has an active line of research in the areas of lifespan, interpersonal, and intercultural communication where she approaches the study of human interactions from a positive social scientific lens.