Emotion Regulation Strategies Are Associated With Differential Responses to the News

Abstract: For some, negative news increases negative affect, harms mental well-being, and reduces news consumption. Others, however, cope better with recurring news negativity. We propose that differences in emotional regulation strategies explain, at least partly, these varied responses to negative news. In a preregistered, longitudinal intensive diary study (7 days) with a diverse, predominantly Western European sample ( N = 120), we examine to what extent emotion regulation strategies are associated with negative affect, mental well-being, and news use frequency. Our findings indicate that cognitive reappraisal and selective attention effectively down-regulate negative emotions arising from news use. However, distraction and suppression showed no statistically significant effects on affect, well-being, or news consumption. This study provides initial evidence that emotion regulation strategies help explain individual differences in responses to negative news and lays the groundwork for a research agenda in communication science exploring the role of emotion regulation in media effects.