Both frequency and flexibility matter for emotion regulation strategy use in daily life

Flexibly adjusting emotion regulation (ER) to environmental demands is expected to be beneficial. Focusing on flexibility over frequency of strategy use, however, neglects the perspective that some strategies might still overall be more helpful. We assessed ER frequency and flexibility simultaneously utilizing a novel approach that models person-specific strategy-situation fit. Community adults (N = 290, aged 25 to 85 years) were randomly prompted 6x/day for 10 days to report their use of 14 ER strategies and current situation (physical location, activity, social context, appraisals). Individuals with more ER flexibility reported higher levels of well-being, though effects were strategy dependent. Individuals with higher well-being used some strategies flexibly and more frequently (e.g., acceptance), some strategies flexibly but not more or less frequently (e.g., expressive suppression), and some strategies more frequently but not flexibly (e.g., savoring). This work reveals the value of considering both person-specific flexibility and general adaptiveness of strategies.