Reciprocal Relationships Between Daily Emotion Regulation Strategies and Basic Need Satisfaction and Frustration: A Dynamic SEM Approach

Previous cross-sectional research has shown that individuals’ emotion regulation styles differentially predict their experiences of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), this daily diary study employed dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM) to investigate the potential reciprocal and day-to-day spillover effects of emotional integration and suppression on daily autonomy, relatedness, and competence need satisfaction and frustration. Participants were 154 undergraduate students (59% female, Mage = 23.70, SD = 2.25). Using a daily diary methodology, participants completed online questionnaires assessing their emotion regulation styles and experiences of basic need satisfaction and frustration across 10 days. DSEM results showed emotional integration and the satisfaction of autonomy and competence needs were reciprocally related, whereas emotional integration predicted, but was not predicted by, relatedness satisfaction. A similar reciprocal relation emerged between emotional suppression and need frustration. Specifically, emotional integration on the previous day positively predicted satisfaction of all three basic needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence) the following day. Conversely, only autonomy and competence need satisfaction on the previous day positively predicted emotional integration the next day. Emotional suppression on the previous day positively predicted frustration of all three basic needs the following day, and vice versa. These findings enhance understanding of the bidirectional interplay between emotion regulation strategies and basic need experiences, shedding light on how these processes unfold in daily life and illustrating patterns consistent with eudaimonic functioning.