Thank you Tabea! Hope all's well :)

Grateful for co-author Prof. Jutta Joormann, reviewers, as well as David Preece and James Gross, for making helpful suggestions on earlier drafts.

We also flag several limitations: e.g., context is still assessed too crudely, and the regulatory-components literature is diverse yet fragmented: components studied in isolation rather than together. For each, we offer concrete suggestions, then map what we consider some promising future directions

It resolves a decade-long confusion: variability is not flexibility. Variability reflects flexibility only when matched to context, the very distinction our framework seeks to make precise.

We propose an integrative framework uniting both: the processes generate the manifestation. Together, they clarify when shifts in behavior reflect genuine flexibility vs. volatility.

Competing theories of ER flexibility have long been treated as rivals. We argue they approach the construct from unique, complementary angles: one focused on how flexibility manifests (ER–context covariation), the other on the processes behind it.

omg this is so exciting - congrats!

🥹congrats on the fellowship!!

Huge thanks to Prof. Jutta Joormann and collaborators! I am grateful to the three reviewers who have offered very constructive feedback that has improved the manuscript!

This has broader implications beyond ER for how we study flexibility in behavior, cognition, and physiology. Using variability as a stand-in for flexibility can be misleading if context isn't modeled simultaneously. Context is the 🔑

Across daily diary and EMA designs, we used the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index to directly assess ER–context covariation. Contrary to the assumption that variability is good, switching strategies predicted higher distress and psychopathology when the context was stable.

Most research on emotion regulation (ER) flexibility doesn't directly measure context. It just assumes that variability in ER strategies reflects flexibility. But is that actually true?

I will be sharing some exciting findings on how behavioral emotion regulation strategies are related to regulation motives and motive satisfaction at the symposium “To Strategies and Beyond!” on Friday morning. If you’re at SAS, I hope to see you there! (2/2)

Congratulations, Janan!!