Digital Youth's Self-talk and Pep-talk: Mood Regulation via Mobile Media and Emotional Well-being

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between an individual's daily well-being and the self-talk and pep-talk type. Methods: A total of 378 Koreans between the ages of 18 and 37 participated in an online survey. The participants were presented with four vignettes and then responded to the question, “If you were feeling the same way as presented in the vignette, what type of self-talk and pep-talk would you be likely to have?” Descriptive and frequency analysis was used to examine the participants’ demographic characteristics and their preferred types of self-talk and pep-talk according to mood state. Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationships among the study variables. Results: The message types of self-talk and pep-talk changed according to the participant’s mood state (i.e., anger, sadness, anxiety, and self-harm). In addition, people with higher levels of daily well-being were more likely to engage in active self-talk to regulate their mood. Conclusion: This study implies that self-talk and pep-talk via mobile media can serve as effective regulation strategies for people’s daily negative moods.