Entertainment fosters resilience: Investigating a coping and resilience perspective of entertainment selection and effects under everyday adversity with intensive longitudinal data

Media entertainment is a common tool for coping with the stressors of everyday life. Research has demonstrated short-term benefits of entertainment for affective regulation and recovery. However, it remains unclear (a) how daily stressors affect the selection of different types of entertainment, and (b) whether entertainment can provide regulatory resources beyond a single episode of entertainment use. We therefore approach the selection of entertainment media under daily adversity from a coping perspective, and the lasting effects of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment use on hope, optimism, and gratitude from a resilience perspective. Results from a diary study with n = 6412 observations from n = 600 participants reveal a complex relationship between stressors and entertainment choices. Hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment use positively related to resilience, which in turn increased next day well-being. Our findings highlight that entertainment use serves both as a resource for resilience and as a problem-focused coping strategy.