Poster #212 - Still Smiling?: The Implications of Positive Affect Continuity and Discontinuity During Emerging Adulthood

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Given the many life changes that occur throughout emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2015), it likely that at least some individuals during this period will experience notable shifts in their temperament traits that will impact their ongoing development. Studying continuity and discontinuity in positive affect (PA), the temperament dimension reflecting the experience of pleasant emotions such as happiness (Evans & Rothbart, 2007), is particularly important for understanding individual differences in psychosocial functioning given the critical role PA plays in adaptation and maladaptation (for a review, see Davis & Suveg, 2014). Thus, the goals of this study were to describe patterns of PA stability/instability during emerging adulthood and to examine links between these PA patterns and domains of psychosocial functioning that are especially pertinent to this developmental period (i.e., internalizing and substance use problems, academic and social functioning).

The present study involved 102 college students who participated in a baseline assessment (Mage = 18.95 years, SD = 1.14) as well as a follow-up lab visit 18-24 months later (Mage = 20.48 years, SD = 1.20). Participants completed questionnaires regarding their PA at both assessments and reported on their internalizing problems (i.e., anxious and depressive symptoms), substance use problems (i.e., drug use problems, alcohol use problems, and coping by using substances), academic functioning (i.e., grade point average and adaptation to managing their college workload), and social functioning (i.e., loneliness and adaptation to making friends in college) at time two. The PA groups were divided as follows: the Stable High group was comprised of individuals who were above the sample mean for PA scores at both time points, the Stable Low group included participants who fell at or below the mean in terms of their PA scores at both time points, Increasers were those participants who shifted from the low PA group at time one (T1) to the high group at time two (T2), and the Decreasers were in the high PA group at T1 but the low group at T2.

The breakdown of PA groups was as follows: Stable Low PA (n = 29), Stable High PA (n = 44), Increasers (n = 15), and Decreasers (n = 14). Significant group differences for several domains of adjustment/maladjustment were found, including depressive symptoms, F(3, 45.91) = 12.57, p < .001, drug use problems F(3, 50.87) = 2.91, p < .05, coping via substance use, F(3, 67.89) = 2.79, p < .05, adaptation to managing the college workload, F(3, 98) = 4.09, p < .01, loneliness, F(3, 98) = 5.85, p < .01, and adaptation to making friends in college, F(3, 98) = 5.08, p < .01. Consistently, the Stable Low PA group exhibited poorer adjustment than the other PA groups.

The results provide a nuanced description of PA development during this pivotal developmental period and suggest that ongoing monitoring of PA (e.g., through universal screeners on college campuses) may be helpful for identifying those most at-risk for maladjustment and, in turn, for providing early intervention services to prevent the onset or escalation of psychosocial problems.

Authors

• Molly Davis, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Cyd K. Eaton, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ronald Blount, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cynthia Suveg, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author