We examined the effects of affect and emotional suppression (ES) on short-term life satisfaction (LS) and depression. In doing so, we considered the dimension of activation for positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).

The final sample included the data collected from 496 undergraduate and graduate students (240 men and 256 women). Participants answered seven questionnaires for assessing activated PA and NA, ES of PA and NA, short-term LS, and depression, three of which were used for another study. All of them were Japanese versions, answered on the past week.

Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that LS was positively associated with PA and negatively with NA, but that its positive association was stronger in activated PA than deactivated PA while its negative association was stronger in deactivated NA than activated NA. Similar findings were obtained for depression. The significant interactions suggested:

1. (1) higher scores of ES of PA weaken the positive association between activated PA and LS in both sexes;

2. (2) higher scores of ES of NA strengthen the negative association between activated NA and LS in men and weaken the association in women; and

3. (3) the positive association between activated NA and depression is weakened by higher scores of ES of NA in women.

This study suggested that activated and deactivated affect differ in their relations to life satisfaction and depression. Moreover, it is likely that although ES of PA and NA influences health, its effects would be different between men and women.