Why Do Feelings Persist Over Time in Daily Life? Investigating the Role of Emotion-Regulation Strategies in the Process Underlying Emotional Inertia

Abstract

Emotions do not simply turn on and off again in an instant; rather, emotions rise and fall gradually, often persisting for a considerable period. Although it is normative for emotions to show a degree of momentum—a phenomenon known as emotional inertia—the tendency for emotions to be overly persistent has been associated with psychological maladjustment. However, the mechanisms underlying emotional inertia remain unclear. We aimed to fill this gap in the present study by investigating how the persistence of affect over time (emotional inertia) is mediated—at the within-person level—by the use of emotion-regulation strategies in daily life. We ran secondary analyses on eight experience sampli..