Recovery from accumulated strain: the role of daily mood and opportunity costs during a vacation

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Recovery from strains accumulated over longer periods of time is essential for health and well-being. Most people take vacations to ensure that they achieve a state of recovery that will allow them to prevent a state of enduring exhaustion. Extending a recent motivational model of recovery, we examined recovery processes during a vacation.

DESIGN: In the current daily diary study, 147 university students reported their daily recovery, mood, opportunity costs, and subjective time perception over 21 consecutive days (2342 observations) during the summer break.

RESULTS: Multilevel analyses showed that students reported higher recovery on days when they were in a better mood and perceived lower opportunity costs than usual. These results held after controlling for the passage of time and well-established covariates of recovery (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control).

CONCLUSION: Supporting the motivational model of recovery, positive mood, the absence of opportunity costs and, to a lesser degree, the perception of time passing quickly contribute to daily recovery during a vacation. Thus, recovery is not simply the result of elapsed time but also depends on the kinds of experiences people have on a given vacation day.