Positive and Negative Emotion Regulation in College Athletes: A Preliminary Exploration of Daily Savoring, Acceptance, and Cognitive Reappraisal

Abstract

Background Despite increasing interest in positive psychological states, we know little about how regulatory responses to positive (savoring) compared to negative events (e.g. acceptance, cognitive reappraisal) influence emotional functioning. Savoring may be particularly helpful for athletes who are often trained to attend more to negative (e.g. rectifying weaknesses) compared to positive stimuli (e.g. enjoying progress). Methods Sixty-seven college athletes completed a two-week daily diary study. Using multi-level modeling, we first explored whether various regulatory responses to daily negative events predicted unique variance in daily emotions (i.e. happy, content, grateful, sad, angry, annoyed). Next, we tested whether savoring positive events strengthened the association between event intensity and positive daily emotions. Finally, we tested whether regulatory responses to positive compared to negative events had stronger moderating (buffering) effects on the association between daily negative event intensity and daily emotions. Results Based on 836 daily observations, reappraising and accepting negative events were the only strategies that predicted unique variance in daily emotions. Savoring enhanced positive emotions related to positive events. Reappraising negative events buffered associations between negative event intensity and decreased daily gratitude, while savoring positive events buffered associations between negative event intensity and increased anger, annoyance, and average negative emotions. Accepting negative events had similar effects. Conclusions Savoring positive events may be an underappreciated strategy for helping athletes regulate emotions related to negative events. Since our sample predominantly identified as white and female, further research is needed to understand savoring use and effectiveness among the full, diverse spectrum of college athletes.

Savoring Sport: Connections With Athlete Passion and Burnout

“…These results mean that passionate athletes with a harmonious relationship with sport are most likely to respond to good times by attempting to enhance or prolong their positive feelings, and that doing so may protect them from becoming emotionally or physical exhausted, feeling a reduced sense of accomplishment, and developing negative attitudes toward their sport. Savoring thus appears to be an adaptive way of responding to positive experiences in sport, a finding that is in line with recent findings with athletes (Doorley & Kashdan, 2021) and with research conducted in nonathlete populations (e.g., Wilson et al, 2020). Research on savoring in sport is just beginning, and more research in this area is needed to help learn more about the antecedents and outcomes of savoring for all types of sport participants.…”

“…Research outside of sport has shown that savoring is an adaptive response to positive experiences that predicts various positive outcomes including greater happiness and overall wellbeing, and fewer symptoms of depression and negative feelings (e.g., Hurley & Kwon, 2012Wilson et al, 2020). Research is now starting to emerge that shows that athletes can also benefit from savoring positive experiences (Doorley & Kashdan, 2021). The current research increased our understanding of savoring in sport in at least two ways.…”

“…Athletes may profit from similar types of brief interventions designed to help them make the most of positive experiences that have already taken place (i.e., reminiscing), that they are currently experiencing (i.e., savoring the moment), and that they expect to experience in the future (i.e., anticipating). Based on past savoring research (e.g., Doorley & Kashdan, 2021;Sytine et al, 2018), such savoring interventions could enhance athlete well-being by both enhancing ongoing positive emotional experiences, and by buffering the impact of negative events on negative emotional reactions. However, we should emphasize that research on savoring behavior among athletes is in its infancy.…”

“…Despite these known benefits, little research has studied savoring among athletes. Recently, Doorley and Kashdan (2021) reported the results of a two-week daily diary study with a sample of college athletes. They found that savoring enhanced the association between daily positive events and positive emotional reactions including happiness, gratitude, and contentment.…”

Emotional Reactivity and Emotion Regulation Among Young Adults During COVID-19 Lockdown: The Moderating Role of Gender and Engagement in Sports

“…Based on previous statements, gender differences in emotion regulation and emotional reactivity requires further explanation. On the other hand, several studies confirmed that athletes have higher dispositional hope ( Curry et al, 1997 ), optimism ( Nicholls et al, 2008 ), perseverance ( Laborde et al, 2014 , 2016 ), resilience ( Padesky and Mooney, 2012 ), and adaptive emotion regulation strategies ( Lane et al, 2009 , 2011 ; Laborde et al, 2014 ; Doorley and Kashdan, 2021 ). Furthermore, it has been reported that professional athletes had better mental health status than non-athletes ( Şenışık et al, 2021 ) and showed lower negative emotional state values than expected average ( Leguizamo et al, 2021 ) during COVID-19 lockdown.…”