- Matthew W Southward: The Ohio State University.
- Jennifer S Cheavens: The Ohio State University.
Expressive flexibility (EF), the ability to enhance and suppress emotional expressions, predicts decreases in anxiety and depression symptoms years later (Bonanno, Papa, Lalande, Westphal, & Coifman, 2004). Bonanno and Burton (2013) proposed that knowing the most appropriate strategy for a situation (context sensitivity; CS), and awareness of how well strategies are working (feedback sensitivity; FS), partially explain this effect. We conducted a conditional process analysis to test this theory. One hundred thirty-eight undergraduates completed a behavioral measure of EF and self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, CS, and FS over one month. CS moderated the effect of EF on one-month changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression ( = .03): EF only predicted decreased anxiety and depression symptoms among people low in CS. FS mediated the effect of EF ( -.10, -.01) on changes in anxiety and depression symptoms: higher baseline EF was associated with higher two-week FS, which predicted decreased one-month anxiety and depression symptoms. Results suggest EF and CS may be compensatory skills and FS may be necessary to experience the adaptive effects of emotion regulation flexibility.