Desirable responding mediates the relationship between emotion regulation and anxiety

0191-8869/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.02.022 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department o Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., Calgary, AB, Canad 5404; fax: +1 403 282 8249. E-mail address: [email protected] (J.E. Arndt). Reappraisal and suppression are two commonly studied emotion regulation (ER) strategies. Their trait expression is often assessed through self-report questionnaires. Recent work suggests that trait-reappraisal is generally associated with lower levels of psycho pathology while trait-suppression is linked to greater psychopathology. We propose here that the reappraisal construct represents a set of highly desirable traits, whereas suppression represents unwanted characteristics. If this were true, relationships between self-reported ER traits and psychopathology, suc h as anxiety, might be systematically biased. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether desirable responding (self-deceptive enhancement and impression management) mediated the link betwe en self-reported emot ion regulation traits (reappraisal and suppression) and anxiety in a sample of over 4000 college students, controlling for gender and ethnicity. Our findings show support for this hypothesi s. Desira ble responding, especially self-deceptive enhancement, mediated the effects of ER traits on anxiety. Our findings recommend caution in the use of self-reported ER traits when assessing links to psychopathology and underscore the influence of self-deception in subjective well-being. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.