“Undoing” Effects of Positive Affect: Does it Buffer the Effects of Negative Affect in Predicting Changes in Depression?

Abstract

The present two studies tested whether positive affect buffers the effects of negative affect on changes in depressive symptoms. Consistent with this undoing hypothesis, results of Study 1 confirmed that baseline trait positive affect buffered the effect of baseline trait negative affect on gains in depression symptoms six weeks later. Trait negative affect predicted gains in depressive symptoms when positive affect was low, but had little impact on later depressive symptoms when positive affect was high. Importantly, a beneficial effect of trait positive affect was only found at higher levels of trait negative affect. The second study sought to extend these findings using a measure of positive and negative life events over the past year rather than trait affect. The second study found that positive events in the previous year were seemingly protective when in the presence of negative events, but paradoxically predicted increased depression under conditions of few negative events. Thus, positive events appeared to function as both a risk and a resilience factor, consistent with similar evidence (Shahar, Elad-Strenger, & Henrich, 2012). As predicted, positive affective experiences had no evident moderating effects in either study on predicting changes in anxiety.