Abstract
The dual continua model assumes that psychological distress and mental well-being are two related, yet distinct dimensions of mental health. Previous studies did convincingly show the distinctiveness of these two dimensions using mainly cross-sectional research. Despite the importance to distinguish between- and within-person associations in psychological theories, to date, no study specifically distinguished between- and within-person associations for the relationship between distress and well-being. Therefore, the objective of this study was to validate whether the dual continua model actually holds when examined within individuals. Intensive longitudinal data were collected through experience sampling. The sample included 25 university students (mean age = 23.50 years, 56% female), who completed a baseline questionnaire as well as momentary measures of psychological distress and mental well-being three times per day for two weeks. 1,014 timepoints were analyzed using multilevel models and person-mean centering was applied to distinguish between- and within person associations. A significant moderate negative between-person association was found for the relationship between psychological distress and mental well-being (β = −.363, marginal R2 = 0.15, p < .001). The within-person association was also significant and similar in magnitude (β = −.432, marginal R2 = 0.18, p < .001) at the group level. Individual within-person associations between distress and well-being varied substantially, but were negative for almost all participants. This study is an important step towards validating the applicability and universality of this widely used model. The current findings provide preliminary evidence that the dual continua model does not only hold between people, but also on the level it is actually used for, namely within individual people.
Highlights
It is currently widely recognized that mental health is not merely the absence of psychological symptoms, and includes the presence of mental well-being
Within-person associations might be used to investigate whether a person who reports higher mental well-being than usual reports a higher level of psychological distress at the same time point
Replication of the results is required. This is the first study validating the dual continua model of mental health by explicitly examining the relationship between psychological distress and mental wellbeing within people
Summary
It is currently widely recognized that mental health is not merely the absence of psychological symptoms, and includes the presence of mental well-being. Other studies found that mental well-being is an important predictor for recovery from psychological issues (Iasiello et al, 2019; Schotanus-Dijkstra et al, 2019) While these previous studies offer convincing evidence for a degree of independence of mental well-being and psychological distress, all studies were either cross-sectional or longitudinal with only a small number of measurement points. It has clearly been shown that this assumption is rarely met, and that betweenperson and within-person associations can substantially differ in magnitude or even in direction (Curran & Bauer, 2011; Hamaker, 2012; Hoffman & Stawski, 2009; Kievit et al, 2013; Van de Pol & Wright, 2009; Wang & Maxwell, 2015) This calls for designs and analyses that clearly distinguish these two sources of information. Experience sampling has been widely used in several research fields, including studies of emotion regulation (e.g. Ebner-Priemer et al, 2009) or affect dynamics (Ebner-Priemer & Trull, 2009; Hamaker et al, 2015; Koval & Kuppens, 2012) and to distinguish betweenand within-person associations (Senker et al, 2020)
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