Resting heart rate variability (HRV) can serve as an index of self-regulatory strength. In the present study we tested the hypotheses that HRV, indexing adaptive self-regulation, is associated with subjective well-being, and that this association is mediated by the habitual use of strategies of emotion regulation that involve executive functions. In addition to measuring heart rate at rest, subjective well-being – as indicated by positive habitual mood and satisfaction with life – and habitual emotion regulation were assessed via self-reports. The findings were largely consistent with our predictions. HRV was positively associated with cheerfulness and calmness, and these effects were mediated by executive emotion regulation. Mediated by these strategies, HRV was also associated with satisfaction with life. Together, the results support the use of HRV as an index of self-regulatory strength.
Self-regulatory strength, defined as the ability to exert self-control and to override or alter one’s dominant response tendencies (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996), is a major prerequisite for adaptive behavior, such as regulating emotions, persisting in the face of failure, or adopting positive health behavior (Schmeichel and Baumeister, 2004 and Tangney et al., 2004).
In previous research, heart rate variability (HRV) was found to serve as a physiological index of self-regulatory strength (Segerstrom & Solberg Nes, 2007). As the ability to exert self-control predicts a broad range of positive outcomes, such as academic and interpersonal success (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004), it seems reasonable to expect HRV to be associated with subjective well-being (SWB). SWB refers to well-being from the people’s own perspective. It includes both cognitive judgements of satisfaction with life and affective evaluations of pleasant and unpleasant affect. Theories of SWB emphasize the interaction of life circumstances with physical health and psychological factors, such as personality traits, goal attainment and coping, in producing SWB (e.g., Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). The assumption that HRV is associated with SWB was indirectly supported by a study showing an inverse relationship between perceived emotional stress and HRV (Dishman et al., 2000). However, empirical evidence for the relationship between HRV and subjective well-being has been surprisingly rare. Addressing this gap, the present study examined whether trait HRV is associated with subjective well-being, as indicated by positive habitual mood and satisfaction with life. Moreover, we tested the hypothesis that the association between HRV and subjective well-being is mediated by strategies of emotion regulation that reflect self-regulatory strength. More specifically, based on the assumption that adaptive self-regulation relies on the capacity to exert control over cognitions, emotions, behavior, and physiology (Solberg Nes et al., 2009 and Thayer et al., 2009), we expected HRV to be related to cognitive strategies of emotion regulation that involve executive functions, such as reasoning, generating, and following through with goals and plans (Suchy, 2009).
