Do Emotion Regulation Intentions and Strategies Differ Between Situations?

The present study examined relationships between actual and desired emotional states, meta-beliefs concerning the utility of distinct emotions, and emotion regulation strategies used by individuals in a sport situation as well as an emotion-eliciting situation from a different aspect of their lives. Participants (N = 924) reported their emotions, meta-beliefs for optimal emotional states, and their use of emotion regulation strategies across two broad categories of situations: Before sports competition, and a situation from daily life. Results indicated that prior to competition, high activation emotions such as anger, anxiety and excitement were preferred. In terms of strategy use, analyses revealed greater intention to use of strategies intended to increase pleasant and unpleasant emotions were associated with daily life. In conclusion, results indicated that meta-beliefs for optimal emotional states, and strategies used to regulate emotions vary between situations. We suggest that the ability to regulate emotions in a flexible manner to suit the specific dynamics of various situations is proposed to be helpful in the pursuit of personally meaningful goals and that training of a variety of emotion regulation skills could be beneficial.