Was I happy today? The influence of positive emotion regulation and depressive symptoms on recalled happiness

Depression is often associated with positive affect recall bias-recalling pleasant affective experiences as less positive than they were. Research suggests this bias may arise from maladaptive emotion regulation patterns, including reduced daily use of strategies that amplify positive emotions and increased reliance on those that dampen them. This study examined the relationship between daily experienced happiness, positive emotion regulation, and recalled happiness over a 10-day period in 155 participants with varying levels of depressive symptoms. Daily recalled happiness was significantly predicted by higher use of amplifying and lower dampening strategies. Individuals with more severe depressive symptoms recalled less happiness, even on relatively happy days. In this group, increase in daily use of amplifying strategies was associated with greater recalled happiness, whereas their decrease led to significantly diminished recalled happiness. Overall, boosting positive emotion regulation may improve how individuals with higher depressive symptoms recall their pleasant affective experiences.