The present work investigated the dynamic relations between affect, with both its positive and negative dimensions, and interpersonal emotion regulation. Drawing from a sample of 220 participants completing surveys on four consecutive days, we used the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to investigate the associations between positive and negative affect and interpersonal emotion regulation. The results of RI-CLPM demonstrated a bidirectional association between positive affect and interpersonal emotion regulation. Interpersonal emotional regulation did not predict the next day’s negative affect. However, negative affect predicted future deployment of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. Use of interpersonal emotion regulation at one time point predicts its subsequent use. Our findings highlight the importance disentangling the within-person effects when examining the relationship between positive and negative affect and interpersonal emotion regulation.
Postelnicu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.