Effects of positive and negative affect and emotional suppression on short-term life satisfaction

Abstract

Relationships between emotional experiences and health and adjustment are influenced by many variables, with emotional suppression (ES) being one of the most influential factors. In the current study, we examined the effects of affect and ES on short-term life satisfaction (LS) measured over the previous week. We also considered the dimension of activation status for both positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The final sample included data collected from 398 undergraduates (184 men and 214 women). Participants answered six questionnaires, two of which were used for another study. All of the tests were of Japanese versions and were answered with regard to the previous week's experiences. Results showed that LS was positively associated with PA and negatively with NA, but that the positive association was stronger for activated PA than deactivated PA, while the negative association was stronger for deactivated NA than activated NA. Furthermore, an interactive effect between deactivated NA and ES on LS was significant in men, where post hoc tests demonstrated that deactivated NA was more negatively associated with LS when ES was higher. This study suggests that activated and deactivated affect differ in their effects on LS. In addition, it is likely that the detrimental effect of deactivated NA on LS is larger when NA is more strongly suppressed. The necessity of interventional research along with the limitations of this study is discussed for future research.

Keywords:

• emotional suppression
• positive affect
• negative affect
• short-term life satisfaction

Notes

1. The terms “affect” and “emotions” are often used interchangeably, although these concepts can be discriminated (Fredrickson, 2001). In general, affect is measured utilizing emotions such as “happy” and “sad.” In this article, the word “affect” was primarily used because the evaluation of discrete emotions was not targeted in the current study. So, even where we use the term “emotional suppression,” it is applicable to affect since we measured affect resulting from emotional regulation in this study.