The Roles of Happiness Motives in Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression: A Longitudinal Study in Emerging Adults

It has been hypothesized that happiness motives (including hedonic and eudaimonic motives) are associated with emotion regulation, which could further influence individuals' well-being. However, less is known about the longitudinal effects of these motives on emotion regulation in emerging adults. To address this gap, the present study employed a two-wave longitudinal design with a six-month interval among a sample of 287 emerging adults (18-26 years; <i>M</i> = 20.23 and <i>SD</i> = 1.60). The findings showed that hedonic and eudaimonic motives were significantly associated with cognitive reappraisal, whereas no significant associations were observed with expressive suppression. Importantly, eudaimonic motives positively predicted cognitive reappraisal six months later, but hedonic motives did not, whereas neither motive significantly predicted expressive suppression. This association remained significant when age and gender were included as covariates. These findings extend the research on happiness motives and emotion regulation by providing longitudinal insights and have important practical implications for practitioners in terms of reinforcing eudaimonic motives to better utilize cognitive reappraisal strategies.