Catanzaro, S. J. (1996). Negative mood regulation expectancies, emotional distress, and
examination performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22,
1023-1029.
Performance on a college examination was predicted using three variables: State anxiety, depressive symptoms measured just before the exam, and negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, which had been measured three months prior to the test. Results indicated there was interaction between NMR expectancies and state anxiety in predicting exam performance: Those who had stronger expectancies showed no performance disruption, or even showed enhanced performance, when experiencing high levels of pre-test state anxiety. Those with low NMR expectancies showed impaired exam performance when experiencing high state anxiety. Therefore, high NMR expectancies appeared to protect subjects from the negative effects of pre-test anxiety; however, those with weak NMR expectancies saw their test grades drop, relative to past performance.