How might interpersonal emotion regulation shape well-being? A naturalistic investigation of its link to subsequent affect and intrinsic emotion regulation.

Intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation (IER; the process of using others' help to regulate one's own emotions) is an important form of emotion regulation (ER) that has implications for everyday well-being. To further clarify how IER shapes well-being, we investigated how intrinsic IER predicts one's subsequent affect and ER efforts among 215 adults, with and without major depressive disorder, a disorder characterized by ER deficits. Via 2 weeks of ecological momentary assessment, participants reported on their recent intrinsic IER experiences, including whether they engaged in intrinsic IER via social sharing and perceived IER outcomes (problem, relationship). They also reported on their current negative affect (NA), positive affect (PA), and ER strategy use, which occurred subsequent to IER exchanges. Data collection took place between 2017 and 2019. We conducted multilevel modeling to examine within-person associations between recent intrinsic IER and subsequent NA, PA, and ER strategy use. Overall, findings suggest that engagement in intrinsic IER is associated with subsequent affect and ER efforts. Intrinsic IER engagement predicted higher NA and lower PA, but feeling better about the problem shared following IER predicted lower NA and higher PA. Intrinsic IER engagement predicted one's subsequent ER strategy use (i.e., use more social sharing and reappraisal; use less suppression). The findings generally did not vary by major depressive disorder status. Our work clarifies how intrinsic IER relates to emotion experience and regulation over time in naturalistic settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).