Daily Sadness Research Articles

Sleep problems predict next-day suicidal thinking among adolescents: A multimodal real-time monitoring study following discharge from acute psychiatric care

AbstractSuicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are major public health concerns among adolescents, and research is needed to identify how risk is conferred over the short term (hours and days). Sleep problems may be associated with elevated risk for STBs, but less is known about this link in youth over short time periods. The current study utilized a multimodal real-time monitoring approach to examine the association between sleep problems (via daily sleep diary and actigraphy) and next-day suicidal thinking in 48 adolescents with a history of STBs during the month following discharge from acute psychiatric care. Results indicated that specific indices of sleep problems assessed via sleep diary (i.e., greater sleep onset latency, nightmares, ruminative thoughts before sleep) predicted next-day suicidal thinking. These effects were significant even when daily sadness and baseline depression were included in the models. Moreover, several associations between daily-level sleep problems and next-day suicidal thinking were moderated by person-level measures of the construct. In contrast, sleep indices assessed objectively (via actigraphy) were either not related to suicidal thinking or were related in the opposite direction from hypothesized. Together, these findings provide some support for sleep problems as a short-term risk factor for suicidal thinking in high-risk adolescents.

Querer ser docente en tiempos de fobia conservadora: perspectivas de estudiantes de un profesorado del Partido de San Martín

This article describes the meanings teaching work acquires in precarious contexts. The meanings are taken from the point of view of a group of students of a teacher training program in San Martin. The hypothesis is that within social conditions of uncertainty for the teaching work, this activitty becomes an option to challenge conservative discourses and practices which deepen social and educational inequalities. The study is developed through an exploratory qualitative methodological approach. It uses in-depth interviews carried out since 2018 to the present. The interviews were made to first- and fourth-year students of the training course. Some of the results indicate that students desire regarding teaching are produced to respond to the need of doing something for the place they inhabit. That includes the desire of social change, to get some kind of social recognition, and to be able to transmit knowledge which may allow school students to be happy or to forget for a few moments the daily sadness.

Depurð meðal skólabarna á Íslandi

Sú skoðun að kynslóðin sem nú vex úr grasi sé útsettari fyrir depurð en þær sem á undan hafa komið er útbreidd bæði á meðal almennings og fagaðila. Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að skoða hvernig algengi daglegrar depurðar íslenskra unglinga breyttist á árunum 2006–2018 og hvaða þættir tengdust daglegri depurð í fyrirlögn árið 2018. Notuð voru gögn úr rannsókninni Heilsa og lífskjör skólabarna (e. Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children - HBSC). Frá árinu 2006 hefur þessi rannsókn verið lögð fyrir í 6., 8. og 10. bekk á Íslandi og í síðustu fyrirlögn veturinn 2017–2018 fengust svör frá 7.159 nemendum. Niðurstöðurnar sýndu að tíðni daglegrar depurðar hafði aukist um þriðjung á tímabilinu, eða úr 5,8% árið 2006 í 7,6% árið 2018. Mjög slæm fjárhagsstaða fjölskyldu og svefnörðugleikar á hverri nóttu 25-földuðu líkurnar á því að unglingar fyndu fyrir depurð á hverjum degi. Að finnast maður vera alltof feitur 13-faldaði líkurnar, tíð áfengisneysla tífaldaði þær og einelti oft í viku nífaldaði þær. Þeir unglingar sem skilgreindu kyn sitt sem „annað“ en strákur eða stelpa, voru átta sinnum líklegri en jafnaldrar þeirra til að finna fyrir depurð daglega. Sama átti við um þá sem reyktu sígarettur eða kannabis reglulega. Fimmföldun á áhættu sást meðal þeirra sem notuðu rafrettur reglulega, áttu slök tengsl við foreldra eða við skóla. Slök vinatengsl þrefölduðu líkurnar. Aðrir þættir sem um það bil tvöfölduðu líkurnar voru annað fæðingarland unglings en Ísland og fæðingarland foreldra hans. Stelpur voru líka tvöfalt líklegri en strákar til að finna fyrir depurð nær daglega. Enn aðrir þættir höfðu veikari fylgni. Þannig voru 10. bekkingar helmingi líklegri en 6. bekkingar til að finna fyrir depurð daglega og óeðlileg skjánotkun jók líkurnar um 60%. Af niðurstöðunum má ráða að tíðni daglegrar depurðar meðal íslenskra unglinga hefur sannarlega aukist. Ýmsir þættir hafa fylgni við depurð unglinga en líklegast er að aukning í svefnörðugleikum skýri mest af þeirri aukningu sem sést.

A Daily Diary Investigation of the Defective Self Model Among College Students With Recent Self-Injury

The Defective Self Model of self-injury (Hooley, Ho, Slater, & Lockshin, 2010) asserts that individuals choose to self-injure to gratify the desire for self-punishment associated with a self-critical cognitive style. Specifically, self-injury is used to regulate negative self-directed thoughts and emotions and is made accessible via the belief that the individual deserves punishment. This study sought to test primary assumptions of the Defective Self Model using a 2-week daily diary protocol. It was hypothesized that trait self-criticism would predict daily self-injury urge intensity and behaviors directly, as well as indirectly, through daily thoughts about deserving punishment. We also posited that guilt would predict self-injury urge intensity and behaviors beyond sadness, hostility, and fear. Support for primary hypotheses was mixed. Self-criticism did not directly predict self-injury outcomes, but did indirectly predict urge intensity through daily thoughts about punishment. Daily guilt predicted self-injury urge intensity beyond daily sadness, hostility and fear and was the only type of negative affect associated with self-injury behavior. Results are primarily contextualized through a social cognitive lens in which self-injury urge is precipitated by the activation of a self-critical schema in daily life. Alternatively, self-criticism may serve as a gateway to initial self-injury but lack the sensitivity to predict individual self-injury episodes. Treatments designed to reduce self-critical thoughts and bolster self-compassion may decrease self-injury urge intensity, thereby affecting the frequency of self-injury episodes.

Happiness and Inflammatory Responses to Acute Stress in People With Type 2 Diabetes.

BackgroundPositive psychological characteristics in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are associated with better health and longevity, and one plausible physiological mechanism involves lower markers of inflammation. Positive affect is related to lower basal inflammatory markers and smaller inflammatory responses to acute stress, but this association in people with T2D remains to be examined.PurposeTo examine the relationship between happiness and inflammatory markers at baseline and in response to acute stress in people with T2D.MethodsOne hundred forty people with T2D took part in laboratory-based stress testing. We aggregated daily happiness ratings over 7 days before stress testing. During the laboratory session, participants underwent two mental stress tasks—the mirror tracing and the Stroop task. Blood was sampled at baseline and post-stress (up to 75 min post-stress) to detect plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Associations between happiness and inflammatory markers and responses were analyzed using multivariable linear regressions.ResultsGreater daily happiness significantly predicted lower baseline and post-stress IL-6 concentrations, and lower baseline MCP-1, after adjusting for covariates. The association between happiness and reduced basal IL-6 maintained after further controlling for daily sadness. We did not find significant associations between daily happiness and inflammatory responses to acute stress. No associations were detected for IL-1Ra.ConclusionsHappier individuals with T2D have lower inflammatory markers before and after acute stress, albeit independent of stress responsivity. Findings could provide a protective physiological pathway linking daily happiness with better health in people with T2D.

Self-critical perfectionism and depression maintenance over one year: The moderating roles of daily stress-sadness reactivity and the cortisol awakening response.

This study of depressed outpatients (N = 43) examined daily stress-sadness reactivity and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) as moderators of the relationship between self-critical (SC) perfectionism and depression over one year. Participants completed perfectionism measures at baseline (Time 1), daily diaries and salivary sampling six months later (Time 2), and an interviewer-rated depression measure at Time 1, Time 2, and one year after baseline (Time 3). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of moderator effects demonstrated that patients with higher SC perfectionism and higher levels of daily stress-sadness reactivity (i.e., greater increases in daily sadness in response to increases in daily stress) had less improvement in depressive symptoms at Time 3 relative to those of other patients, adjusting for the effects of Time 1 and Time 2 depression. Furthermore, higher SC perfectionism in conjunction with an elevated CAR predicted higher levels of depression at Time 3. In addition, lower SC perfectionism in combination with higher levels of stress-sadness reactivity/CAR was associated with the lowest levels of depression at Time 3. These findings highlight the importance of targeting dysfunctional self-critical characteristics that exacerbate the impact of heightened stress-sadness reactivity and CAR to generate better treatment outcomes for patients with higher SC perfectionism. (PsycINFO Database Record

Income Reliably Predicts Daily Sadness, but Not Happiness

Kushlev, Dunn, and Lucas (2015) found that income predicts less daily sadness—but not greater happiness—among Americans. The present study used longitudinal data from an approximately representative German sample to replicate and extend these findings. Our results largely replicated Kushlev et al.’s results: Income predicted less daily sadness (albeit with a smaller effect size) but was unrelated to happiness. Moreover, the association between income and sadness could not be explained by demographics, stress, or daily time use. Extending Kushlev et al.’s findings, new analyses indicated that only between-persons variance in income (but not within-persons variance) predicted daily sadness—perhaps because there was relatively little within-persons variance in income. Finally, income predicted less daily sadness and worry, but not less anger or frustration—potentially suggesting that income predicts less “internalizing” but not less “externalizing” negative emotions. Together, our study and Kushlev et al.’s study provide evidence that income robustly predicts select daily negative emotions—but not positive ones.

Gender differences in the impact of daily sadness on 24-h heart rate variability.

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is proposed to mediate the relation between depressive symptoms and cardiovascular health problems. Yet, several studies have found that in women depression is associated with higher HRV levels, whereas in men depression is associated with lower HRV levels. So far, these studies have only examined gender differences in HRV levels using a single assessment. This study aimed to test the interactive effects of gender and sadness on ambulatory-assessed HRV levels. A sample of 60 (41 women) employees participated in an ambulatory study. HRV levels (mean of successive differences; MSD) were continuously measured for 24 h. During the daytime, hourly assessments of sadness and other mood states were taken, while depressive symptoms were assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D). Gender differences were observed when examining the impact of average daily sadness on MSD. In women, but not in men, the total amount of sadness experienced during the day was associated with higher circadian MSD levels. These findings suggest that researchers need to take gender differences into account when examining the relation between sadness, HRV, and cardiovascular problems.

Higher Income Is Associated With Less Daily Sadness but not More Daily Happiness

Although extensive previous research has explored the relationship between income and happiness, no large-scale research has ever examined the relationship between income and sadness. Yet, happiness and sadness are distinct emotional states, rather than diametric opposites, and past research points to the possibility that wealth may have a greater impact on sadness than happiness. Using data from a diverse cross section of the U.S. population (N = 12,291), we show that higher income is associated with experiencing less daily sadness, but has no bearing on daily happiness. This pattern of findings could not be explained by relevant demographics, stress, and people’s daily time use. Although causality cannot be inferred from this correlational data set, the present findings point to the possibility that money may be a more effective tool for reducing sadness than enhancing happiness.

College students' daily-level reasons for not drinking.

Motivational models of alcohol use posit opposing approach and avoidance motives related to drinking, yet no micro-longitudinal study of college students has examined avoidance motives [i.e. reasons for not drinking (RND)]. This exploratory study examined daily- and person-level correlates of students' RNDs to identify factors that may inhibit alcohol use. College students (n = 1631; 54% female) participated in a 30-day daily diary study in which they reported RNDs for non-drinking evenings, as well as daily moods, global drinking motives and alcohol expectancies. Daily sadness was positively associated with not drinking due to having nobody with whom to drink but negatively associated with not drinking due to school work. Daily anxiety was negatively associated with not drinking due to lack of desire and positively associated with not drinking due to habit or having school or job responsibilities. At the person level, multiple RNDs were associated with both coping and conformity motives (but not social or enhancement motives), as well as positive (but not negative) alcohol expectancies. Results demonstrate the complexity of modelling mood-drinking contingencies proposed by motivational theories of alcohol use. Distinct moods may promote or inhibit drinking through various pathways, which could help explain the weak associations between daily mood and drinking level observed in previous studies. Measuring reasons both for and against drinking in micro-longitudinal studies (e.g. daily diaries) is recommended to better understand the processes underlying alcohol use and to inform future prevention efforts.

Rumination, Worry, Cognitive Avoidance, and Behavioral Avoidance: Examination of Temporal Effects

Recently, cross-sectional research has demonstrated that depressive rumination is significantly associated with the tendency to engage in cognitive and behavioral avoidance. This evidence suggests that rumination may be the result of attempts to avoid personally threatening thoughts, in a manner suggested by multiple contemporary theories of worry. This investigation examined the temporal relationship among daily levels of cognitive avoidance, behavioral avoidance, rumination, worry, and negative affect. Seventy-eight adolescents completed baseline questionnaires and then electronically completed daily measures of rumination, worry, behavioral avoidance, and cognitive avoidance, as well as sad and anxious affect for 7days. Lagged-effect multilevel models indicated that increases in daily sadness were predicted by greater daily rumination and cognitive avoidance. Increases in daily anxiety were predicted by greater daily rumination, worry, and both cognitive and behavioral avoidance. Further, both daily rumination and worry were positively predicted by daily cognitive, but not behavioral, avoidance. Mediation analyses suggested that rumination mediated the effect of cognitive avoidance on both sadness and anxiety. Also, worry mediated the effect of cognitive avoidance on anxiety. Implications for models of avoidance, rumination, and worry are discussed.