Affect regulation strategies for promoting (or preventing) flourishing emotional health

This study examined affect regulation styles that best discriminated among affectivity groups representing languishing, moderate, and flourishing emotional health. Using the Measure of Affect Regulation Styles (MARS; Larsen & Prizmic, 2004) with 380 undergraduate students, analyses revealed nine affect regulation strategies (i.e., understanding/analyzing feelings, making plans, talking to someone, doing something enjoyable, being grateful, alcohol use, caffeine use, treating oneself, and consulting an advisor/mentor) that significantly distinguished between languishing and non-languishing individuals (moderate and flourishing) and six affect regulation strategies (i.e., withdrawal, emotion suppression, keep to themselves, downward social comparison, eating something, and daydreaming) that significantly distinguished flourishing individuals from those with moderate emotional health. Significant differences between moderate and flourishing groups consisted of behaviors that ‘prevented’ rather than ‘promoted’ flourishing (e.g., behavioral and cognitive avoidance). These findings suggest that in order to achieve flourishing, individuals may need to reduce avoidance strategies and increase engagement strategies.