The association between depressive symptoms and emotional recovery after failure: Considering the role of emotional clarity

Experiencing failure can have a detrimental impact on individuals' emotional well-being, particularly among those exhibiting symptoms of depression. Difficulties in emotion regulation may contribute to the emotional impact of failure, yet most research has focused on the later stages of the emotion regulation process (i.e., the selecting and implementing emotion regulation strategies), while comparatively less attention has been paid to earlier stages, such as identification and labeling the experienced emotions (i.e., emotional clarity). This study examined whether emotional clarity plays a role in the relationship between depressive symptoms and emotional recovery following experiences of failure. Eighty-two participants (M = 22.62 years; SD = 2.05) provided mood and state emotional clarity ratings at baseline, immediately after a failure manipulation, and at a subsequent recovery time-point. Additionally, participants completed self-report scales assessing trait emotional clarity and depressive symptoms. Negative mood significantly increased after the manipulated failure. Depressive symptoms were associated with prolonged negative mood at the recovery time-point, whereas trait emotional clarity was associated with better recovery from negative mood. Importantly, trait emotional clarity (but not state emotional clarity) showed a significant indirect effect on the association between depressive symptoms and recovery from negative mood (b = −0.025; 95 % CI [−0.0545, −0.008]). These findings highlight the potential role of emotional clarity as a mechanism linking depressive symptoms to sustained negative mood, suggesting it may serve as a promising target for intervention efforts.