BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Beyond main effects? Revisiting the role of positive and negative affect level in affective variability predicting depressive symptoms during adolescence and young adulthood

Wed, April 7, 11:45am to 12:45pm EDT (11:45am to 12:45pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Adolescence is a period with profound changes, with temporary increases in affective variability (Maciejewski et al., 2015), negative affect (Maciejewski et al., 2018), and depressive symptoms (Maughan et al., 2013). Research has shown that higher affect variability, are related to more depressive symptoms (van Houben et al., 2013). Recently, however, these results have been called into question, because affective variability is partly dependent on the level of affect (Mestdagh et al., 2018), leading to suggestions to control for affect level when testing the association between affective variability and depressive symptoms (Trull et al., 2015). Recent studies have shown that the positive association between affect variability and depressive symptoms disappeared when controlling for affect level (Bos et al., 2019; Dejonckheere et al., 2019).
In the present paper, we argue that affective variability and affect level do not work independently, but that they interact with each other (Ong & Ram, 2017). Specifically, we argue that affective variability has predictive value for depressive symptoms, but only for certain levels of positive and negative affect level (i.e., indicating an interaction effect). We test two competing hypotheses (see Figure):

1. On the one hand, it could be that high variability only has a detrimental effect on depressive symptoms for individuals with high negative affect and low positive affect level. Those individuals may be hyper sensitized to stress and thus perturbations in their affect may be perceived as extra challenging. In contrast, individuals with low negative affect and high positive affect may be more resilient towards perturbations in their affect and experience fewer depressive symptoms if affective variability is high (e.g., Oosterwegel et al., 2001)

2. On the other hand, it could be that affective variability is a sign of trying to escape negative affect, indicating that the system is responsive to its context. Short moments of low negative and high positive affect level could cumulate and have long-lasting positive effects on depression. Conversely, in case of high positive and low negative affect level, vacillations between extreme moments of joy and temporary periods of worse affect could be perceived as disturbing (Maher et al., 2018).

The central research question of the present paper is: Does positive and negative affect level moderate the relation between affective variability and depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults?
The analyses have been preregistered on the OSF framework (https://osf.io/djufr/?view_only=07de3bd07c8b4fe18f16f44576cfe6cb) and are currently being conducted. We use seven datasets with data on affective variability and level as well as concurrent and longitudinal depressive symptoms with participants ranging from adolescence to adulthood (N = 1500). The datasets used Experience Sampling Methods measuring affect up to 9 times a day (see Table). Moderation analyses will be conducted per dataset with affective variability as a predictor, affective level as a moderator, and depressive symptoms at baseline and follow-up (up to 6 years) as an outcome. Results will be pooled using meta-analyses. Results will shed more light into the nature of the relation between affective variability and depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults.

Authors