Abstract
Emotion crafting refers to individuals' awareness of, and proactive behaviour towards, positive emotional experiences. The construct is related to emotion regulation and is associated with beneficial outcomes, such as higher levels of well-being and lower levels of ill-being. This study aimed to investigate the relation between emotion crafting and life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, and whether this relation was mediated by positive and negative affect. In total, 116 participants (Mage = 29.41, SD = 11.87, 61% female) answered a digitally distributed baseline questionnaire that measured levels of general emotion crafting, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Results showed that emotion crafting related to higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of depression symptoms, with the experience of higher positive affect and lower negative affect mediating these relations. Current findings replicated some of the earlier findings of emotion crafting and further contributed to the increasing literature on positive emotion regulation. The results also indicate the importance of understanding more about proactive emotion regulation and its possible influences on individuals well- and ill-being.
