Fear of happiness and emotion regulation: Implications for personal and relational well-being

Abstract

Fear of happiness is the belief that happiness brings about negative consequences. In this research, we investigated the emotion regulation mechanism linking fear of happiness and personal and relational well-being. Studies 1 and 2 found that fear of happiness was consistently associated with lower levels of personal well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) through increased dampening, and to some extent, reduced savouring of positive emotions across Singaporean undergraduate (Study 1; N = 227) and American online samples (Study 2; N = 222). In Study 3 with a Singaporean online sample (N = 125), we extended these findings to relational well-being in a context of particularly high relational stress—COVID-19 lockdown, highlighting the importance of emotional regulation of positive emotions. The findings across the three studies provided insight into how individuals' beliefs about positive emotions could guide their responses toward emotional experiences and subsequently contribute to their personal and relational well-being.