Trait Negative Affect Research Articles

The joint structure of major depression, anxiety disorders, and trait negative affect.

Dimensional models of psychopathology demonstrate that two correlated factors of fear and distress account for the covariation among depressive and anxiety disorders. Nevertheless, these models tend to exclude variables relevant to psychopathology, such as temperament traits. This study examined the joint structure of DSM-IV-based major depression and anxiety disorders along with trait negative affect in a representative sample of adult individuals residing in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The sample consisted of 3,728 individuals who were administered sections D (phobic, anxiety and panic disorders) and E (depressive disorders) of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) 2.1 and a validated version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Data were analyzed using correlational and structural equation modeling. Lifetime prevalence ranged from 2.4% for panic disorder to 23.2% for major depression. Most target variables were moderately correlated. A two-factor model specifying correlated fear and distress factors was retained and confirmed for models including only diagnostic variables and diagnostic variables along with trait negative affect. This study provides support for characterization of internalizing psychopathology and trait negative affect in terms of correlated dimensions of distress and fear. These results have potential implications for psychiatric taxonomy and for understanding the relationship between temperament and psychopathology.

Tests of an extension of the dual pathway model of bulimic symptoms to the state-based level

The dual pathway model proposes that trait body dissatisfaction leads to bulimic symptoms via two distinct pathways: dieting and trait negative affect. As many of these modelled variables have state-based equivalents, the present study evaluated the generalisability of this model to predict associations between state body dissatisfaction and instances of disordered eating. 124 women aged 18 to 40years completed an online survey (accessed via a mobile phone device with web access) over a 7-day period. The mobile phone device prompted participants at random intervals seven times daily to self-report their state body dissatisfaction, current mood experiences, dieting attempts, and disordered eating practices. Multi-level mediation modelling revealed that both negative mood states and dieting significantly mediated the state body dissatisfaction–disordered eating relationships, although the strength of these associations depended on the aspect of disordered eating measured and individual differences in trait body dissatisfaction, internalization of appearance standards, tendency towards dieting, and BMI. Collectively, these results not only support adapting the dual pathway model to the state-level, but also suggest that several of the model implied pathways may be more relevant for individuals with more pathological eating- and body-related concerns and behaviours.

Prediction of symptoms of emotional distress by mood regulation expectancies and affective traits

Three studies examined negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) and affective traits as independent predictors of self-reported symptoms of emotional distress. NMRE represent individuals' beliefs that they can alleviate unpleasant emotional states. Stronger NMRE are associated with more adaptive coping, more positive cognition during negative moods, more effective responses under stress and less emotional distress. Affective traits represent long-term tendencies toward particular affective experiences; they confer risk for specific symptoms of emotional distress. In Study 1, NMRE, trait negative affect (TNA) and trait positive affect (TPA) were all independently associated with depression among students and staff of a German university. In Study 2, in prospective analyses among U.S. college students traits exhibited hypothesised relationships with anxiety and depressive symptoms, and NMRE uniquely predicted anhedonic depression. Study 3 revealed independent prediction of change in symptoms over time by NMRE among U.S. college students, whereas traits were not associated with change in distress, anxiety and depression symptoms. Results suggest independent roles for NMRE and traits in the development of depression and anxiety symptoms and highlight the importance of NMRE as a potential target of therapeutic intervention in the process of symptom change.

Affect and self-rated health: A dynamic approach with older adults.

Self-rated health (SRH) predicts mortality above and beyond objective health risks and, as such, comprises an important aspect of health. Established contributors to SRH include affect, age, and disease, but neither their dynamic nor their synergistic contributions to SRH have been comprehensively tested. The present study employed older adults (N = 150; Mage = 75 years) and a longitudinal design with 6-month waves over a period up to 5 years. Positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), chronic disease, and SRH were assessed at each wave. In multilevel models with single predictors, older age, more chronic disease, and higher NA predicted worse SRH, whereas higher PA predicted better SRH. Affect predicted SRH both between and within people. In multilevel models with interactions between affect and age or disease, individual differences in NA predicted worse SRH primarily in older people. Within people, changes in NA were associated with changes in SRH, but more so in younger than in older people. Within people, changes in PA were associated with changes in SRH, but only when health was better than usual. There were both dynamic and synergistic relationships between affect and SRH that could only emerge in a multilevel, multivariable design. In the case of NA, between-person, trait NA had the opposite relationship to SRH and age compared to within-person, state NA. Which component of this relationship predicts mortality is an important question for future research.

Meta-emotions as predictors of drinking to cope: A comparison of competing models.

To further elucidate how individual differences in the frequency with which people get upset about having negative emotions (i.e., meta-emotions) and how often they experience negative emotions (i.e., trait emotions) are related to drinking to cope, we tested direct and mediated path models predicting drinking to cope in a sample of emerging adult drinkers. We hypothesized that the mediated model would find more support, such that anxiety sensitivity and non-acceptance (meta-emotions) would be indirectly related to drinking to cope via associations with trait anxiety and trait nonanxious negative affect (trait emotions), respectively. Both models were tested with bootstrapping using concurrently measured self-report data from 544 college-enrolled emerging adults. Although both the mediated and direct models yielded acceptable fit indices, only the predictions of the mediated model were supported and findings suggest that non-acceptance might be more strongly related than anxiety sensitivity to drinking to cope. If replicated using better controlled idiographic paradigms, the present results would support a novel model of the relation between secondary negative emotions and emotion-focused coping and might suggest that interventions that target meta-emotion could be effective among emerging adult alcohol misusers.

Effect of the serotonin transporter gene and of environment on the continuity of anxiety and depression traits throughout adolescence

Aims. Many studies of various stress reactive phenotypes suggest that 5-HTTLPR short allele carriers (S-carriers) are characterised by the stable trait of negative affectivity that is converted to psychopathology only under conditions of stress. In this study, we examined the moderating role of the 5-HTTLPR on the relationship between two objective chronic risk factors, i.e. socioeconomic status (SES) and family structure, and internalising symptoms across adolescence. Methods. A multigroup path analysis was employed in a general adolescent population sample of a 5-year follow-up study. Results. Internalising problems were significantly more stable in the S-carriers. The focus on the main dimensions of internalising problems, i.e. anxiety and depression, revealed two different developmental patterns. In the S-carriers Anxiety problems seemed to be more stable and to predict a possible evolution towards the development of Depressive problems. In the long allele homozygotes (LL-subjects) the anxiety trait was significantly less stable, and, in late-adolescence, seemed to be significantly predicted by SES, suggesting a possible gene-environment interaction (G×E). Family structure seemed to play a role in a G×E perspective only until early-adolescence, while during late-adolescence SES seemed to play a pivotal role in interaction with 5-HTTLPR, with the S-allele playing a protective role. Conclusions. Future models of the developmental link between environmental adversities and internalising behaviour therefore need to consider that the effect of G×E interaction, may be associated with internalising behaviour via different mechanisms during different time frames and that shifts in the strength of this effect should be expected across development.

The distressed (Type D) personality mediates the relationship between remembered parenting and psychological distress in cardiac patients

Objective: Both the distressed (Type D) personality (i.e. the combination of negative affectivity and social inhibition traits) and dysfunctional parenting styles are associated with anxiety and depression. As parenting styles have been related to personality development, dysfunctional parenting styles may also be associated with Type D personality. We examined whether remembered parenting was associated with anxiety and depression in cardiac patients and whether Type D personality mediated this relationship.Methods: Our sample comprised 435 patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and 123 patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Type D Scale (DS14), and Remembered Relationship with Parents (RRP10) scale.Results: Remembered parenting was significantly associated with higher anxiety and depression levels and Type D personality. In multivariable linear regression analyses, Type D personality accounted for 25–29% of the variance in anxiety and 23–46% of the variance in depression, while remembered parenting was no longer significantly associated with these domains. Sobel tests and bootstrapping indicated that Type D personality mediated the relationship between remembered parenting and anxiety and depression.Conclusion: Type D personality mediated the relationship between remembered parenting and anxiety and depression in both PCI and CHF patients.

Negative affectivity and workplace deviance: the moderating role of ethical climate

This study investigates (1) the relationship between employees’ trait of negative affectivity (NA) and workplace deviance and (2) the moderating role of ethical climate in the above relationship. Data was collected from 310 employees in 40 Taiwanese companies, and hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Results show that NA was positively related to workplace deviance. In addition, the rules climate weakened the relationship between NA and workplace deviance, and both the instrumental climate and the caring climate strengthened the relationship between NA and workplace deviance. Managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed.

A dynamic, self-regulatory model of affect and performance: Interactions between states, traits and task demands

State–trait consistency and valence principles were integrated within a dynamic self-regulatory framework to predict interactive effects of state affect, trait affect and task demands on performance. State affect and performance were measured repeatedly as individuals completed a complex and dynamic decision-making task. Task demands were manipulated at the within-person level. The beneficial effect of state positive affect was strongest for individuals with high trait positive affect; however this effect was only evident under high task demands. The detrimental effect of state negative affect was weakest for individuals with high trait negative affect, with this effect being constant across task demand levels. This study demonstrated that state–trait inconsistency can be bad for individuals with high trait positive affect and consistency can be good for individuals with high trait negative affect.

The effect of fatigue on the attentional blink

Published online: 11 July 2013(Q> Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2013It has been suggested that attention and emotional states are tightly linked, in that negative moods are associated with narrowed attentional focus, whereas positive moods are asso- ciated with broadened focus. However, recent studies on the effect of affective states, using the attentional blink deficit as a reflection of the temporary unavailability of attentional re- sources, have reported ambiguous results regarding the deploy- ment of attention in the temporal domain. In the present study, we examined whether the effect of affective state on the atten- tional blink should be interpreted in terms of valence and arousal axes or in terms of the specificity of the connection between affect and attention. We chose to use fatigue to test these alternatives because, according to the two-axis view, fatigue would not be expected to increase the attentional blink. Participants identified two targets embedded in a stream of nontargets, and for half of the participants, a state of fatigue was induced using the Trier Social Stress Test. Those in the experimental group demonstrated a greater attentional blink relative to those in the control group, who did not receive the mood manipulation. The results suggest unique links between mood states and attention during a task involving temporal selection.Studies in cognitive psychology have shown that the de- ployment of attentional resources (Kahneman, 1973; Matthews & Desmond, 1998) is determined by various external factors, such as physically (Theeuwes, 2010) and socially (West, Anderson, & Pratt, 2009) distinctive items, as well as by endogenous factors, such as intention (Hommel, 2010). Moreover, the deployment of attention can also be affected by such internal factors as motivation (Delia Libera & Chelazzi, 2006) and the current mood state (Fredrickson, 2004; Friedman & Forster, 2010), because the internal states of observers can influence executive function (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999), which governs the major cognitive systems, thereby including the deployment of attention.In terms of the spatial domain, it is generally agreed that negative moods are associated with narrowed attentional focus, whereas positive moods are associated with broad- ened focus (Rowe, Hirsh, & Anderson, 2007). Therefore, in a typical Eriksen flanker task, in which observers identify a target, the flanking distractors interfered less when partici- pants were in a negative than when they were in a neutral mood (Sato, Takenaka, & Kawahara, 2012). In contrast, broadened and more distributed attention is more likely in positive than in neutral moods (Moriya & Nittono, 2011).Such effects of mood states can also be demonstrated in the temporal domain by using the attentional blink task (Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992), in which identification of the second of two targets embedded in a rapid stream of nontargets is impaired at short intertarget lags (about 100- 300 ms). This impairment has been attributed to the unavailability of temporary attentional resources immediate- ly after processing of the first target. Recently, MacLean, Arnell, and Busseri (2010) demonstrated that higher levels of self-reported negative trait affect were associated with a greater attentional blink. These researchers also found that the magnitude of the attentional blink was negatively corre- lated with trait positive affect and that negative affect was more strongly correlated with the attentional blink than was positive affect, suggesting that negative affect is not simply the absence of positive affect, but rather appears to have its own impact. Moreover, MacLean and Arnell (2010) found that greater dispositional positive affect was associated with a smaller attentional blink, whereas greater negative trait affect was associated with a larger attentional blink (see also Rokke, Arnell, Koch, & Andrews, 2002, for a similar finding related to depression). …

Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship between Negative Affectivity and Problematic Alcohol Use

The mechanisms that underlie how negative affective traits influence problematic alcohol use and attentional biases are not well understood. The current article sought to characterize mechanisms that drive problematic alcohol use and attentional biases. Three undergraduate student studies were conducted (n = 510, 429, and 38). Negative urgency partially mediated the effects of negative affectivity (B for indirect effect = .119, CI = .09 – .16) and affect lability (B for indirect effect = .928, CI = .47 – 1.45) on problematic alcohol use. Activation level of hostility predicted increased variance in problematic alcohol consumption (R2 change = .01, β = .16, p = .02) above trait valence. Negative urgency predicted alcohol attentional biases over and above valence and activation (β = 2.23, p = .05). Negative urgency is a prime mechanism by which negative affective traits influence problematic alcohol consumption.

Attitudes without objects: evidence for a dispositional attitude, its measurement, and its consequences.

We hypothesized that individuals may differ in the dispositional tendency to have positive vs. negative attitudes, a trait termed the dispositional attitude. Across 4 studies, we developed a 16-item Dispositional Attitude Measure (DAM) and investigated its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and predictive validity. DAM scores were (a) positively correlated with positive affect traits, curiosity-related traits, and individual preexisting attitudes; (b) negatively correlated with negative affect traits; and (c) uncorrelated with theoretically unrelated traits. Dispositional attitudes also significantly predicted the valence of novel attitudes while controlling for theoretically relevant traits (such as the Big 5 and optimism). The dispositional attitude construct represents a new perspective in which attitudes are not simply a function of the properties of the stimuli under consideration, but are also a function of the properties of the evaluator. We discuss the intriguing implications of dispositional attitudes for many areas of research, including attitude formation, persuasion, and behavior prediction.

Affecting coping: Does neurocognition predict approach and avoidant coping strategies within schizophrenia spectrum disorders?

According to various diathesis-stress models of schizophrenia, life stress plays a defining role in the onset and course of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. In this regard, individual differences in coping strategies and affective traits, variables related to the management and experience of stress, may play a large role in susceptibility to the disorder and symptom exacerbation. Furthermore, it has been posited that cognitive deficits may limit an individuals' ability to effectively respond to stressful situations. We investigated the relationships between attention, immediate memory, trait negative affect (NA), trait positive affect (PA) and specific coping strategies within three groups: chronic schizophrenia patients (n=27), psychometrically-defined schizotypy (n=89), and schizotypy demographically-matched controls (n=26). As hypothesized affective traits displayed predictable relationships with specific coping strategies, such that NA was associated with the greater use of avoidant coping strategies within the schizophrenia and schizotypy group, while PA was associated with greater use of approach coping styles within all groups. The schizotypy group reported significantly higher levels of NA and also greater use of avoidant coping strategies than both the control and schizophrenia group. As expected group differences were found in trait affect, coping strategies, and cognitive functioning. Importantly, these group differences remained significant even when demographic variables were entered as covariates. Contrary to our expectations, cognitive functioning displayed only a few tenuous relationships with coping strategies within the schizophrenia and schizotypy groups. Overall, results support the notion that affective traits and not cognitive functioning is the best predictor of approach and avoidant coping strategies.

Relationships Among Maladaptive Cognitive Content, Dysfunctional Cognitive Processes, and Borderline Personality Features

Previous research has demonstrated that maladaptive cognitive content, including dysfunctional attitudes and negative automatic thoughts, is associated with emotional distress. Similarly, dysfunctional cognitive processes, including thought suppression and rumination, have been shown to intensify psychological difficulties. Although maladaptive cognitive content and dysfunctional processes have been linked to borderline personality disorder (BPD), most research has been conducted with Axis I disorders. This study examined the incremental validity of dysfunctional cognitive content and processes in predicting BPD symptom severity, controlling for trait negative affect, in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 85), including many with high levels of BPD features. Although nearly all variables were significantly correlated with BPD features, final regression models suggest that rumination and thought suppression are stronger independent predictors of BPD features than automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitudes, and trait negative affect. These results suggest the importance of targeting thought suppression and rumination in BPD.

Social appearance anxiety, perfectionism, and fear of negative evaluation. Distinct or shared risk factors for social anxiety and eating disorders?

Social anxiety and eating disorders are highly comorbid. Social appearance anxiety (i.e., fear of negative evaluation of one's appearance), general fear of negative evaluation, and perfectionism have each been proposed as risk factors for both social anxiety disorder and the eating disorders. However, no research to date has examined all three factors simultaneously. Using structural equation modeling in two diverse samples (N=236; N=136) we tested a model in which each of these risk factors were uniquely associated with social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms. We found support for social appearance anxiety as a shared risk factor between social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms, whereas fear of negative evaluation was a risk factor only for social anxiety symptoms. Despite significant zero-order relationships, two facets of perfectionism (high standards and maladaptive perfectionism) did not emerge as a risk factor for either disorder when all constructs were considered. These results were maintained when gender, body mass index, trait negative affect, and depression were included in the model. It is possible that treating negative appearance evaluation fears may reduce both eating disorder and social anxiety symptoms.

The Role of Trait-Affect, Depression, and Anxiety in Women With Sexual Dysfunction: A Pilot Study

Despite the increasing number of studies, it is not yet clear how emotions affect sexual response in women with and without sexual problems. The aim of this study was to explore the relation among trait-affect, depression, anxiety, and sexual functioning. Participants were 237 women: 167 without sexual problems, 37 with low levels of sexual functioning, and 17 with sexual dysfunction. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Female Sexual Function Index. Results showed that women with sexual problems presented lower levels of positive trait-affect in comparison with women without sexual problems. Mediation analysis indicated that depression mediated 44% of the total effect of positive trait-affect and 83% of the total effect of negative trait-affect on sexual functioning. Moreover, anxiety (Brief Symptom Inventory subscale) mediated 18% of the total effect of positive trait-affect on sexual functioning and 61% of the total effect of negative trait-affect on sexual functioning. These results may help explain the high comorbidity among sexual dysfunction, depression, and anxiety, and raise the hypothesis that trait-affect may act as a common vulnerability factor for these clinical conditions.

Do negative affect characteristics and subjective memory concerns increase risk for late life anxiety?

To better understand the development and exacerbation of late-life anxiety, we tested a risk model positing that trait negative affect (NA) characteristics would interact with cognitive functioning, thereby increasing some older adults’ risk for increased anxiety symptoms. The moderator–mediator model consisted of measures of NA, cognitive functioning, and their interaction, as predictors of later Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores (HARS) via a mediational process, subjective memory concerns (SMCs). Older adults (aged 65-years and over; Mage=76.7 years, SD=6.90 years) completed evaluations four times over approximately 18 months. A latent growth curve model including Anxiety Sensitivity Index total score (ASI), Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 (DRS) total raw score, the ASI×DRS interaction, a SMC measure as mediator, HARS intercept (scores at times 3 and 4), and HARS slope provided good fit. The ASI×DRS-2 interaction at Time 1 predicted HARS slope score (β=−.34, p<.05). When ASI score was high, stronger cognitive functioning was associated with fewer anxiety symptoms. The indirect effect of ASI score predicting HARS score 18-months later through the SMC mediator was statistically significant (β=.08, p<.05). Results suggest that the cognitive functioning changes associated with aging might contribute to the development of anxiety symptoms in older adults with specific NA traits. Implications for predicting and preventing late life anxiety disorders are discussed.

Getting better with age: The relationship between age, acceptance, and negative affect.

Although aging involves cognitive and physical declines, it is also associated with improved emotional well-being, particularly lower negative affect. However, the relationship between age and global negative affect, versus discrete negative emotions, and the pathways that link age to lower negative affect are not well understood. We hypothesize that 1 important link between age and lower negative affect may be acceptance of negative emotional experiences. The present study examined this hypothesis in a community sample of 21- to 73-year-olds (N = 340) by measuring acceptance and multiple indices of negative affect: trait negative affect, negative experiential and physiological reactivity to a laboratory stress induction, daily experience of negative affect, and trait negative affect 6 months after the initial assessment. Negative affect was measured using a discrete emotions approach whereby anger, anxiety, and sadness were assessed at each time point. Age was associated with increased acceptance as well as lower anger and anxiety (but not sadness) across measurement modalities and time points. Further, acceptance statistically mediated the relationship between age on the one hand and anger and anxiety on the other hand. These results are consistent with the idea that acceptance may be an important pathway in the link between age and lower negative affect. Implications of these results for understanding the nature of age-related decreases in discrete negative emotions are discussed.

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

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.

The distressed (Type D) and Five-Factor Models of personality in young, healthy adults and their association with emotional inhibition and distress

The distressed (Type D) personality (the combination of negative affectivity and social inhibition traits) has been associated with adverse health outcomes. This study investigated the validity of the Type D construct against the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality, and its association with emotional control and distress. In total 498 university students (mean age 28.9±8.4years) completed the Type D scale (DS14), and measurements for the FFM of personality, emotional control, anxiety, depression and stress. The construct validity of the Icelandic DS14 was confirmed. The Type D components negative affectivity and social inhibition were strongly associated with neuroticism and extraversion of the FFM (r=0.82 and r=−0.67, respectively). Negative affectivity also correlated with rehearsal/rumination (r=0.58) and social inhibition with emotional inhibition (r=0.54), indicative of emotional control. Type D personality (40% of sample) was associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression and stress. The Type D personality components were associated with the FFM of personality, emotional control and emotional distress. Importantly, social and emotional inhibition were closely related, providing novel information about the presence of emotional inhibition within the social inhibition trait.