Abstract

This study examines the reciprocal relationship between emotion regulation strategies (ERS; e.g., rumination and experiential avoidance) and depressive mood; and, using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), investigates whether this within-per son relationship varies depending on the level of baseline depression. Participants comprised 122 college students (96 females and 26 males) in South Korea, who were screened to ensure their risk status for depression. Following baseline assessment, participants were asked to engage in EMA that involved providing data on momentary ERS and depressive mood five times daily for seven consecutive days. Dynamic SEM analyses indicated that momentary ERS predicted subsequent increases in depressive mood after controlling for depressive mood at the previous time point. Depressive mood also predicted subse quent increases in momentary ERS after adjusting momentary ERS at the previous time point. The baseline depression sig nificantly moderated the within-person relationship between momentary rumination and subsequent depressive mood, but not the relationship between experiential avoidance and depressive mood. This study extends previous literature on ERS in relation to depression by examining their potential bidirectional relationship and exploring baseline depression as potential between-person moderators.