Depressive styles and the regulation of negative affect: A daily experience study

An experience-sampling methodology was used to explore the relation between depressive personality styles and daily mood regulation. Ninety-five women completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt et al., 1976), a nd recorded their affect and use of specific mood-regulation strategies twi ce daily over a 2-week period. We hypothesized that active, distracting str ategies would be more effective in alleviating negative affect than would p assive, emotion-focused strategies, and that self-criticism and dependency would be associated with poor mood management. Results indicated that engag ing in a pleasant, rewarding activity was successful in reducing negative a ffect, whereas venting prolonged negative affect. Self-criticism was relate d to poor mood management, as it was associated with venting and failing to spend time with others. Dependency was associated with venting, consumptio n-based self-indulgence, and being less likely to spend time alone when reg ulating negative affect.