Emotion regulation self-efficacy mediates the relation between happiness emotion goals and depressive symptoms: A cross-lagged panel design.

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that unrealistically high happiness emotion goals lead to decreased emotion regulation self-efficacy, which in turn, leads to depressive symptoms. A cross-lagged panel design with data collection at three time points was used to allow for causal inferences of directionality among study variables. Participants (N = 181) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires at a baseline assessment session (T1). The same measures were completed again at 6- (T2) and 12-month (T3) follow-up sessions. Results of a cross-lagged path analysis indicated that emotion regulation self-efficacy at T2 mediated the relation between happiness emotion goals at T1 and depressive symptoms at T3, thus confirming the primary study hypothesis. To decrease the likelihood that one will experience depressive symptoms, vulnerable individuals may benefit from preemptive efforts that help recalibrate emotion goals in a realistic manner or shift attention toward end-state goals that are not emotion related. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).