Negative Affect Reactivity Research Articles

Attachment and emotion regulation in middle childhood: changes in affect and vagal tone during a social stress task

ABSTRACTIn middle childhood, more securely attached children show better emotion regulation when assessed as general tendencies (e.g. coping style), but studies looking at emotion in response to specific stressors have revealed mixed results. This study examined how attachment security, avoidance, and ambivalence – assessed with a story stem task (99 children, 9–11 years old) – relate to dynamic indices of affective and autonomic responses (baseline, reactivity, recovery). Reports of positive and negative affect, and high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), were assessed during a social stressor task. Securely attached children did not show reactivity effects, although they did show greater recovery of positive affect after the task ended. Avoidant children showed both less reactivity and recovery of negative affect, suggesting a dampened emotional response. Ambivalent children showed more reactivity and more recovery of negative affect. Autonomic response changes were only evident for ambivalent children, who showed less suppression of HF-HRV variability under stress.

Abstract # 1718 Neuro-immune dysregulation and depressive vulnerability: The Cortisol:C-reactive protein ratio predicts context-dependent negative affect reactivity in men and women with elevated symptoms of depression

We evaluated the predictive effects of the cortisol (CORT) to high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) ratio on stress-induced negative affect (NA) reactivity and whether this association was moderated by depressive symptom severity. Fasting blood samples were collected between 0845 and 0915 and assayed for CORT and CRP in 198 medication-free healthy adults with no history of major depressive disorder (MDD). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Hamilton Depression (HAMD). NA ratings were collected at baseline and at the completion of two laboratory stressors, a reading task and the Anger Recall Interview (ARI). Adjusting for age, gender, race, and baseline NA, severity of depressive symptoms moderated the relation of CORT/CRP ratio to NA reactivity to ARI ( b = −2.25, p =.03) but not reading. For participants with elevated symptoms of depression, decreasing CORT/CRP ratio ( b = −2.65, p

Effects of workplace intervention on affective well-being in employees' children.

Using a group-randomized field experimental design, this study tested whether a workplace intervention-designed to reduce work-family conflict-buffered against potential age-related decreases in the affective well-being of employees' children. Daily diary data were collected from 9- to 17-year-old children of parents working in an information technology division of a U.S. Fortune 500 company prior to and 12 months after the implementation of the Support-Transform-Achieve-Results (STAR) workplace intervention. Youth (62 with parents in the STAR group, 41 in the usual-practice group) participated in 8 consecutive nightly phone calls, during which they reported on their daily stressors and affect. Well-being was indexed by positive and negative affect and affective reactivity to daily stressful events. The randomized workplace intervention increased youth positive affect and buffered youth from age-related increases in negative affect and affective reactivity to daily stressors. Future research should test specific conditions of parents' work that may penetrate family life and affect youth well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record

Nonsynonymous HTR2C polymorphism predicts cortisol response to psychosocial stress I: Effects in males and females

BackgroundGenetic influences on stress reactivity may provide insight into depression risk mechanisms. The C-allele of rs6318, a putatively functional polymorphism located within the HTR2C gene, has been reported to predict greater cortisol and negative affective reactivity to lab-induced stress. However, the potential moderating effect of sex has not been examined despite X-linkage of HTR2C. We hypothesized that sex moderates the effect of rs6318 on cortisol and affective reactivity to lab-induced stress, with males showing stronger effects. MethodsNon-depressed young adults (N=112; 39 female) screened via clinical interview provided a DNA sample and completed either a negative evaluative Trier Social Stress Test, or a non-evaluative control protocol. Salivary cortisol and self-reported affect were assessed at four timepoints. ResultsContrary to hypotheses, C-carriers showed blunted rather than exaggerated cortisol responses to lab-induced stress in multilevel models (b=0.467, p<0.001), which persisted when covarying subclinical depressive symptoms. This effect was not moderated by sex (b=0.174, p=0.421), and remained significant when examining females (b=0.362, p=0.013) and males (b=0.537, p<0.001) separately. C-carriers also exhibited marginally greater reactivity in negative self-focused affect in response to stress than non-carriers when covarying subclinical depressive symptoms (b=-0.360, p=0.067), and exhibited higher levels of subclinical depressive symptoms than non-carriers (F=6.463, p=0.012). ConclusionsResults support a role for the rs6318 C-allele in dysregulated stress responding, and suggest that the C-allele may contribute to risk for depression.

Affective reactivity to daily stressors is associated with elevated inflammation.

Inflammation increases the risk of chronic diseases, but the links between emotional responses to daily events and inflammation are unknown. We examined individual differences in affective reactivity to daily stressors (i.e., changes in positive and negative affect in response to stressors) as predictors of inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP). A cross-sectional sample of 872 adults from the National Study of Daily Experiences (substudy of Midlife in the United States II) reported daily stressors and affect during telephone interviews for 8 days. Blood samples were obtained at a separate clinic visit and assayed for inflammatory markers. Multilevel models estimated trait affective reactivity slopes for each participant, which were inputted into regression models to predict inflammation. People who experienced greater decreases in positive affect on days when stressors occurred (i.e., positive affect reactivity) had elevated log IL-6, independent of demographic, physical, psychological, and behavioral factors (B = 1.12, SE = 0.45, p = .01). Heightened negative affect reactivity was associated with higher log CRP among women (p = .03) but not men (p = .57); health behaviors accounted for this association in women. Adults who fail to maintain positive affect when faced with minor stressors in everyday life appear to have elevated levels of IL-6, a marker of inflammation. Women who experience increased negative affect when faced with minor stressors may be at particular risk of elevated inflammation. These findings add to growing evidence regarding the health implications of affective reactivity to daily stressors.

Relationship between sensory-processing sensitivity and negative affective reactivity -Using mood induction by situation image method-

Relationship between sensory-processing sensitivity and negative affective reactivity -Using mood induction by situation image method-

Characterizing emotional dysfunction in borderline personality, major depression, and their co-occurrence

This research aimed to characterize patterns of emotional reactivity and dysregulation in borderline personality, depression, and their co-occurrence. In study 1, 488 young adult women from the community were categorized into four groups based on self-reported major depressive disorder (MDD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms (Low BPD/Low MDD; Low BPD/High MDD; High BPD/Low MDD; High BPD/High MDD). Immediate and prolonged subjective emotional reactivity to a laboratory stressor were assessed, and participants completed self-report and behavioral measures of emotion dysregulation. Study 2 extended these findings, examining emotional reactivity and dysregulation in a clinical population of 176 substance dependent patients with diagnoses of BPD and MDD and including a biological index of emotional reactivity. Results revealed greater prolonged fear reactivity in the High BPD/High MDD (vs. Low BPD/Low MDD) group in study 1, and greater prolonged anxiety and negative affect reactivity in both High BPD groups (vs. Low BPD/Low MDD and Low BPD/High MDD groups) in study 2 (but no differences in cortisol reactivity). Results also demonstrated greater subjective (but not behavioral) emotion dysregulation in the High BPD/High MDD (vs. Low BPD/Low MDD) group in study 1 and both High BPD groups (vs. both Low BPD groups) in study 2. Finally, the High BPD/High MDD group reported greater difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors compared with all other groups in study 1 and the Low BPD groups in study 2. Findings suggest that BPD pathology (but not MDD pathology alone) is characterized by greater prolonged emotional (especially anxiety/fear-related) reactivity and heightened emotion dysregulation.

Daily life stress reactivity in remitted versus non-remitted depressed individuals

BackgroundLittle is known about how daily life mood reactivity to minor stressors (stress reactivity) might change following major depressive disorder (MDD) treatment. We investigate whether (i) mood states and appraisals of daily stressors change after treatment; (ii) stress reactivity to event, activity, or social stress differs; (iii) stress reactivity depends on severity of residual depressive symptoms; and (iv) stress reactivity in individuals with remitted or non-remitted depression differ from that of never-depressed individuals. MethodsThirty depressed individuals participated in an experience sampling study before and after a treatment period of 18 months; 39 healthy individuals formed a comparison group. Reactivity of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) to daily stressors were measured. ResultsMore residual symptoms were associated with larger NA responses to stress. Compared to healthy controls, participants with non-remitted MDD showed higher NA-reactivity to all stressors. In contrast, stress reactivity to event and activity stressors was normalized in remitted patients. However, they still showed heightened NA-reactivity to social stress. ConclusionsGreater stress reactivity to event and activity stress appears to be state-dependent. The heightened social stress reactivity in remitted patients suggests that sensitivity to social stress may reflect an underlying vulnerability in MDD.

Risk for Depression and Anxiety in Youth: The Interaction between Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Stressors.

Theories of temperament suggest that individual differences in affective reactivity (e.g., negative affectivity) may confer risk for internalizing psychopathology in youth and that self-regulatory aspects of temperament (e.g., effortful control) may protect against the deleterious effects of high negative affective reactivity. However, no study to date has examined how the relationship between temperament and youth internalizing psychopathology may be moderated by stress. The current study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the interaction of temperament (e.g., negative affectivity and effortful control) and stressors as a predictor of youth (ages 7-16; 56 % female; N = 576) depressive and anxious symptoms over a 3-month period. Findings show that at low levels of stress, high levels of effortful control protect against the development of depressive and anxious symptoms among youth with high levels of negative affectivity. However, at high levels of stress, this buffering effect is not observed. Gender and grade did not moderate this relationship. Overall, findings extend current understanding of how the interaction of individual psychosocial vulnerabilities and environmental factors may confer increased or decreased risk for depressive and anxious symptoms.

One size fits all? Applying theoretical predictions about age and emotional experience to people with functional disabilities.

The current study examined whether commonly observed age differences in affective experience among community samples of healthy adults would generalize to a group of adults who live with significant functional disability. Age differences in daily affect and affective reactivity to daily stressors among a sample of participants with spinal cord injury (SCI) were compared with a noninjured sample. Results revealed that patterns of affective experience varied by sample. Among noninjured adults, older age was associated with lower levels of daily negative affect, higher levels of daily positive affect, and less negative affective reactivity in response to daily stressors. In contrast, among the sample with SCI, no age differences emerged. Findings, which support the model of Strength and Vulnerability Integration, underscore the importance of taking life context into account when predicting age differences in affective well-being.

The effect of personality on daily life emotional processes.

Personality features are associated with individual differences in daily emotional life, such as negative and positive affectivity, affect variability and affect reactivity. The existing literature is somewhat mixed and inconclusive about the nature of these associations. The aim of this study was to shed light on what personality features represent in daily life by investigating the effect of the Five Factor traits on different daily emotional processes using an ecologically valid method. The Experience Sampling Method was used to collect repeated reports of daily affect and experiences from 104 healthy university students during one week of their normal lives. Personality traits of the Five Factor model were assessed using NEO Five Factor Inventory. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the effect of the personality traits on daily emotional processes. Neuroticism predicted higher negative and lower positive affect, higher affect variability, more negative subjective evaluations of daily incidents, and higher reactivity to stressors. Conscientiousness, by contrast, predicted lower average level, variability, and reactivity of negative affect. Agreeableness was associated with higher positive and lower negative affect, lower variability of sadness, and more positive subjective evaluations of daily incidents. Extraversion predicted higher positive affect and more positive subjective evaluations of daily activities. Openness had no effect on average level of affect, but predicted higher reactivity to daily stressors. The results show that the personality features independently predict different aspects of daily emotional processes. Neuroticism was associated with all of the processes. Identifying these processes can help us to better understand individual differences in daily emotional life.

Age differences in affective and cardiovascular responses to a negative social interaction: the role of goals, appraisals, and emotion regulation.

Older adults often report less affective reactivity to interpersonal tensions than younger individuals, but few studies have directly investigated mechanisms explaining this effect. The current study examined whether older adults' differential endorsement of goals, appraisals, and emotion regulation strategies (i.e., conflict avoidance/de-escalation, self-distraction) during a controlled negative social interaction may explain age differences in affective and cardiovascular responses to the conflict discussion. Participants (N = 159; 80 younger adults, 79 older adults) discussed hypothetical dilemmas with disagreeable confederates. Throughout the laboratory session, participants' subjective emotional experience, blood pressure, and pulse rate were assessed. Older adults generally exhibited less reactivity (negative affect reactivity, diastolic blood pressure reactivity, and pulse rate reactivity) to the task and more pronounced positive and negative affect recovery following the task than did younger adults. Older adults appraised the task as more enjoyable and the confederate as more likeable and more strongly endorsed goals to perform well on the task, which mediated age differences in negative affect reactivity, pulse rate reactivity, and positive affect recovery (i.e., increases in posttask positive affect), respectively. In addition, younger adults showed increased negative affect reactivity with greater use of self-distraction, whereas older adults did not. Together, findings suggest that older adults respond less negatively to unpleasant social interactions than younger adults, and these responses are explained in part by older adults' pursuit of different motivational goals, less threatening appraisals of the social interaction, and more effective use of self-distraction, compared with younger adults.

Five Indices of Emotion Regulation in Participants With a History of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: A Daily Diary Study

Theory has proposed that nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a response to intense frequent negative affect (NA) that is difficult to control. Therefore, individual differences that are related to emotion dysregulation should be higher in individuals who engage in NSSI compared to healthy controls. Though current research supports this prediction, this research could be strengthened by corroborating evidence from daily diary studies. The current study used a daily diary protocol to thoroughly examine the emotional correlates of NSSI. Individuals with and without a history of NSSI rated their affect daily for 14days. This information was used to score multiple indices of emotionality (e.g., mean level, within-person variation, reactivity). The results showed that compared to controls, individuals who engaged in NSSI had higher mean levels, within-person variation, and lower emotional differentiation of NA, but groups did not differ on inertia of NA or reactivity of NA. Moreover, individuals with a history of NSSI reported lower levels of positive affect and lower inertia of positive affect. These results are discussed in terms of affect regulation models of NSSI and treatment implications.

CORTISOL REACTIVITY TO EXPERIMENTALLY MANIPULATED PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESS IN YOUNG ADULTS AT VARIED RISK FOR DEPRESSION

This study examined cortisol and affective reactivity to a psychosocial stress task in 102 young adults who varied in risk for depression (56 remitted depressed, 46 never depressed). Participants were randomly assigned to either a stress (i.e., social-evaluative threat) or control (i.e., no social-evaluative threat) condition. For never-depressed individuals, cortisol responses were significantly greater in the stress compared to the control condition. Moreover, cortisol responses were significantly greater for never-depressed than remitted-depressed individuals in the stress condition. For individuals with a history of depression, cortisol responses did not differ significantly between the stress and control conditions. Negative affective reactivity also was higher for never depressed, but not remitted depressed, individuals in the stress compared to the control condition. Moreover, cortisol responses were inversely related to negative affect during the recovery phase in both stress and control conditions. Findings indicate the lack of a robust cortisol response to social evaluation stress among remitted-depressed individuals as compared to that of never-depressed controls. Future studies should investigate unique and interactive links between these hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and affective reactivity alterations and risk for subsequent depressive episodes.

Impact of Sleep Quality on Amygdala Reactivity, Negative Affect, and Perceived Stress

Research demonstrates a negative impact of sleep disturbance on mood and affect; however, the biological mechanisms mediating these links are poorly understood. Amygdala reactivity to negative stimuli has emerged as one potential pathway. Here, we investigate the influence of self-reported sleep quality on associations between threat-related amygdala reactivity and measures of negative affect and perceived stress. Analyses on data from 299 participants (125 men, 50.5% white, mean [standard deviation] age = 19.6 [1.3] years) who completed the Duke Neurogenetics Study were conducted. Participants completed several self-report measures of negative affect and perceived stress. Threat-related (i.e., angry and fearful facial expressions) amygdala reactivity was assayed using blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Global sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Amygdala reactivity to fearful facial expressions predicted greater depressive symptoms and higher perceived stress in poor (β values = 0.18-1.86, p values < .05) but not good sleepers (β values = -0.13 to -0.01, p values > .05). In sex-specific analyses, men reporting poorer global sleep quality showed a significant association between amygdala reactivity and levels of depression and perceived stress (β values = 0.29-0.44, p values < .05). In contrast, no significant associations were observed in men reporting good global sleep quality or in women, irrespective of sleep quality. This study provides novel evidence that self-reported sleep quality moderates the relationships between amygdala reactivity, negative affect, and perceived stress, particularly among men.

The Wear and Tear of Daily Stressors on Mental Health

Researchers assert that affective responses to seemingly minor daily events have long-term implications for mental health, yet this phenomenon has rarely been investigated. In the current study, we examined how levels of daily negative affect and affective reactivity in response to daily stressors predicted general affective distress and self-reported anxiety and depressive disorders 10 years after they were first assessed. Across eight consecutive evenings, participants (N = 711; age = 25 to 74 years) reported their daily stressors and their daily negative affect. Increased levels of negative affect on nonstressor days were related to general affective distress and symptoms of an affective disorder 10 years later. Heightened affective reactivity to daily stressors predicted greater general affective distress and an increased likelihood of reporting an affective disorder. These findings suggest that the average levels of negative affect that people experience and how they respond to seemingly minor events in their daily lives have long-term implications for their mental health.

Quarrelsome behavior in borderline personality disorder: Influence of behavioral and affective reactivity to perceptions of others.

We examined how the amplification of 3 within-person processes (behavioral reactivity to interpersonal perceptions, affect reactivity to interpersonal perceptions, and behavioral reactivity to a person's own affect) accounts for greater quarrelsome behavior among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Using an event-contingent recording (ECR) methodology, individuals with BPD (N = 38) and community controls (N = 31) reported on their negative affect, quarrelsome behavior, and perceptions of the interaction partner's agreeable-quarrelsome behavior in interpersonal events during a 20-day period. Behavioral reactivity to negative affect was similar in both groups. However, behavioral reactivity and affect reactivity to interpersonal perceptions were elevated in individuals with BPD relative to community controls; specifically, individuals with BPD reported more quarrelsome behavior and more negative affect during interactions in which they perceived others as more cold-quarrelsome. Greater negative affect reactivity to perceptions of other's cold-quarrelsome behavior partly accounted for the increased quarrelsome behavior reported by individuals with BPD during these interactions. This pattern of results suggests a cycle in which the perception of cold-quarrelsome behavior in others triggers elevated negative affect and quarrelsome behavior in individuals with BPD, which subsequently led to more quarrelsome behavior from their interaction partners, which leads to perceptions of others as cold-quarrelsomeness, which begins the cycle anew.

An Investigation of the Relationships among Negative Affect, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Features of Borderline Personality Disorder

This study investigated the indirect effects of problematic emotion regulation on features of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) when accounting for negative affect in 456 participants from two distinct geographic regions. Participants completed the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Borderline Symptom List (BSL). Results from this study supported a model in which there were significant indirect effects of both a lack of emotional clarity and limited access to emotion regulation strategies on features of BPD when accounting for negative affective intensity. Results also supported a second model in which there were significant indirect effects of both limited access to emotion regulation strategies and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior on features of BPD when accounting for negative affective reactivity. The results highlight important inter-relationships among features of BPD, difficulties regulating emotions, and negative affective intensity and reactivity.

Prospective Relationship between Negative Affective Reactivity to Daily Stress and Depressive Symptoms

The current study was based on O'Neill, Cohen, Tolpin, and Gunthert (2004) and was designed to explore the direction of the relationship between affective reactivity to daily stress and depressive symptoms. College students (N = 93) were assessed at two time periods (T1 and T2) with questionnaires measuring their current depressive symptoms and with online daily diaries measuring their interpersonal and non-interpersonal stressors and their negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA). The results showed that T1 NA reactivity to daily interpersonal and non-interpersonal stressors predicted T2 depressive symptoms, but that T1 depressive symptoms did not predict T2 NA reactivity, suggesting that the NA reactivity-depression relationship is unidirectional. Overall, the findings suggest that NA reactivity to daily stressors is a vulnerability factor for depression, and they highlight the value of a daily diary design in evaluating the antecedents and outcomes of psychopathology.

Mood reactivity to daily events in patients with remitted bipolar disorder

Information about mood reactions to naturally occurring stress in remitted bipolar patients may help elucidate the mechanism by which stressors influence the propensity to manic or depressive relapse in these patients. Using the experience sampling method (ESM), we therefore investigated negative and positive mood states and their reactivity to daily hassles and uplifts in 38 outpatients with remitted bipolar disorder and 38 healthy volunteers. Multilevel regression analyses confirmed that mean levels of negative affect (NA) were higher and positive affect (PA) lower in bipolar patients. Reactivity of NA and PA to hassles and uplifts in bipolar patients was similar to controls and was unrelated to the number of previous episodes. Bipolar patients with subsyndromal depressive symptoms, however, showed particularly large NA responses to daily hassles, which they also rated as more stressful. Subsyndromal depressive symptoms in patients with remitted bipolar disorder thus appear to increase sensitivity to everyday stressors.