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Emotion regulation variability and flexibility in daily life show distinct associations with well-being, age, and executive functions

de la Fuente, Dorian ; Karbach, Julia; Basten, Ulrike; Glombiewski, Julia A.; In-Albon, Tina; Lischetzke, Tanja; Mema, Christina; Rammensee, Rebecca A.; Schmitt, Marcel C. 1; Könen, Tanja
1 Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft (IfSS), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

Flexible and effective emotion regulation (ER) is crucial for mental health and well-being. Research on individual differences in ER, however, has often relied on global self-reports or controlled laboratory settings, which may not fully capture the dynamic and context-dependent nature of regulation in daily life. To address this, we examined how ER variability and flexibility in real-world contexts relate to executive functions (EF), affective well-being, and age in a general population sample (N = 161, aged 14–78). EF performance was assessed using six online cognitive tasks, while ER variability and flexibility were assessed using a 14-day ambulatory assessment of daily emotional experiences. As expected, EF performance declined with increasing age across shifting, inhibition, and updating domains. Beyond these age-related differences in cognitive performance, older age was robustly associated with lower within- and between-strategy ER variability. In contrast, ER flexibility remained relatively stable across adulthood. Individual differences in EF were not associated with everyday ER variability, suggesting that cognitive control capacity does not account for regulatory dispersion in daily life. ... mehr


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000194614
Veröffentlicht am 25.06.2026
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-57813-7
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft (IfSS)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2026
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 2045-2322
KITopen-ID: 1000194614
Erschienen in Scientific Reports
Verlag Nature Research
Band 16
Heft 1
Seiten Art.Nr: 18531
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 15.06.2026
Schlagwörter Emotion regulation, Variability, Flexibility, Executive functions, Age
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
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