Promoting subjective well-being through communication savoring

摘要

The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions articulates themerit of positive emotions in promoting well-being. Using anonline two-group posttest-only randomized experimental design,this study examined the effects of communication savoring onsubjective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, happiness,and life satisfaction) among young adults (M age = 20.97, SD =1.91). After writing about a communication moment they savoredand savoring the positive emotions derived from reminiscence,participants in the experimental group (n = 90) reported higherlevels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect comparedto participants in the comparison group (n = 87) who wroteabout a communication moment they recently experienced.Moreover, results showed that the one-time communication savoringintervention was indirectly related to higher levels of happinessand life satisfaction through both positive and negative affect.Results bolster recent theorizing about communication savoringas a distinctive positive communication construct.