Reappraisal capacity is unrelated to depressive and anxiety symptoms

Research suggests affective symptoms are associated with reduced habitual use of reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy in individuals with mental health problems. Less is known, however, about whether mental health problems are related to reduced reappraisal capacity per se. The current study investigates this question using a film-based emotion regulation task that required participants to use reappraisal to downregulate their emotional response to highly evocative real-life film footage. We pooled data (N = 512, age: 18-89 years, 54% female) from 6 independent studies using this task. In contrast to our predictions, symptoms of depression and anxiety were unrelated to self-reported negative affect after reappraisal or to emotional reactivity to negative films. Implications for the measurement of reappraisal as well as future directions for research in the field of emotion regulation are discussed.

Automated summary

Research examines the relationship between mental health problems and reduced capacity for reappraisal, using a film-based emotion regulation task. Data from 6 independent studies on 512 participants reveal that symptoms of depression and anxiety do not affect self-reported negative affect or emotional reactivity to negative films after reappraisal. The study discusses implications for measuring reappraisal and future research directions in emotion regulation.