AMBIVALENCE OVER EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION AND WELL-BEING - NOMOTHETIC ANDIDIOGRAPHIC TESTS OF THE STRESS-BUFFERING HYPOTHESIS

Nomothetic and idiographic relations between ambivalence over emotiona l expression (AEQ; King & Emmons, 1990) and well-being were examined i n a 4-month study with an interim 2-week diary component. Nomothetic a nd idiographic analyses both revealed that AEQ was related to psycholo gical health but not to physical well-being. The nomothetic test of st ress-buffering showed that AEQ was more predictive of depression among Ss who had experienced higher levels of positive life-event stress. I n contrast, the idiographic test of stress-buffering revealed that Ss higher in AEQ exhibited less covariation between daily stress and nega tive affect over time. It is proposed that AEQ may reflect 2 types of emotional vulnerability-emotional reactivity and emotional perseverati on-and the implications of this distinction for testing the stress-buf fering hypothesis are discussed.