DESIRED EMOTIONAL CLOSENESS MODERATES THE PROSPECTIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN LEVELS OF PERCEIVED EMOTIONAL CLOSENESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

The present study investigated the relations between two facets of psychological distress—worry and depression—and emotional closeness, which can be a type of social regulation of emotion. The moderating impact of desired emotional closeness was also investigated. A sample of 135 undergraduates completed baseline measures and seven daily measures of perceived emotional closeness, depressive symptoms, and worry. Using multilevel modeling, bidirectional relations were tested by prospectively predicting the next day's level of emotional closeness, depressive symptoms, or worry. The prospective relations were mostly moderated by desired emotional closeness, such that prospective relations were mostly found at high levels of desired emotional closeness. At high levels of desired emotional closeness, a bidirectional seeking-alleviation model best described relations involving worry, such that worry positively predicted emotional closeness and emotional closeness negatively predicted worry. Also at high levels o...