Reductions In Positive Affect Research Articles

Solitude can be good-If you see it as such: Reappraisal helps lonely people experience solitude more positively.

Solitude is a common experience that can elicit both positive (e.g., relaxation) and negative (e.g., loneliness) emotions. But can changing the way we think about solitude improve its emotional effects? In a previous study, our team found that positively reframing solitude buffers against a reduction in positive affect when alone. Yet, it is unknown whether people who are lonely-and thus more likely to experience solitude negatively-benefit from modifying their beliefs about being alone. Here, we test whether reframing solitude as a beneficial experience or de-stigmatizing loneliness helps people experiencing moderate-to-severe loneliness (N = 224) feel more positive emotion and less negative emotion during solitude. We randomly assigned participants to read about either the benefits of solitude, the high prevalence of loneliness, or a control topic. Then, participants spent 10 minalone in the laboratory. State affect was assessed before and after the solitude period. Across conditions, the solitude period reduced high-arousal positive (e.g., excited) and high-arousal negative (e.g., anxious) affect, and increased low-arousal positive affect (e.g., relaxed). Notably, people who read about the benefits of solitude experienced a significantly larger increase in low-arousal positive affect compared with the control condition. Our findings indicate that lonely individuals can more readily reap the emotional benefits of solitude when they reframe solitude as an experience that can enhance their well-being.

Sustained increase in depression and anxiety among psychiatrically healthy adolescents during late stage COVID-19 pandemic.

Adolescents have experienced increases in anxiety, depression, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and may be at particular risk for suffering from long-term mental health consequences because of their unique developmental stage. This study aimed to determine if initial increases in depression and anxiety in a small sample of healthy adolescents after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were sustained at follow-up during a later stage of the pandemic. Fifteen healthy adolescents completed self-report measures at three timepoints (pre-pandemic [T1], early pandemic [T2], and later pandemic [T3]). The sustained effect of COVID-19 on depression and anxiety was examined using linear mixed-effect analyses. An exploratory analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation during COVID-19 at T2 and increases in depression and anxiety at T3. The severity of depression and anxiety was significantly increased at T2 and sustained at T3 (depression: Hedges' g [T1 to T2] = 1.04, g [T1 to T3] = 0.95; anxiety: g [T1 to T2] = 0.79, g [T1 to T3] = 0.80). This was accompanied by sustained reductions in positive affect, peer trust, and peer communication. Greater levels of difficulties in emotion regulation at T2 were related to greater symptoms of depression and anxiety at T3 (rho = 0.71 to 0.80). Increased symptoms of depression and anxiety were sustained at the later stage of the pandemic in healthy adolescents. Replication of these findings with a larger sample size would be required to draw firm conclusions.

Parental Perceptions of Child and Adolescent Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Argentina.

BackgroundAs a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have implemented preventive measures towards reducing infections. These conditions can affect the mental health of children and adolescents; however, this has not yet been fully explored.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to analyze changes in symptomatology and positive emotions in Argentine children and adolescents since the onset of isolation, based on parent/caregiver report. We analyzed differences based on gender, age, socioeconomic status (SS) and containment measure (and their interactions); their associations with symptomatology and positive affect of parents/caregivers; and the moderating effects of sociodemographic factors on these associations.MethodA total of 1205 caregivers responded to a survey regarding the mental health of children and adolescents under their care. They also completed a set of anxiety, depression, and affect measures about themselves.ResultsA considerable proportion of parents/caregivers perceived changes in their children’s and adolescents’ mental health compared to before the pandemic. Increased levels of anxiety-depression, aggression-irritability, impulsivity-inattention, and dependence-withdrawal were reported, as well as alterations in sleeping and eating habits, and a reduction in positive affect. Differences were observed according to their age and containment measure. Finally, we found correlations between parents/caregivers’ symptomatology and that reported about their children or adolescents. Gender, age and SS moderated some of these relationships.ConclusionsContinued monitoring of child and adolescent mental health is a fundamental necessity. We recommend the implementation of early intervention strategies to prevent the escalation of serious mental health problems, particularly in those groups that have been most adversely affected since the onset of the pandemic.

Brief exposure to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Doom-scrolling has negative emotional consequences, but kindness-scrolling does not.

People often seek out information as a means of coping with challenging situations. Attuning to negative information can be adaptive because it alerts people to the risks in their environment, thereby preparing them for similar threats in the future. But is this behaviour adaptive during a pandemic when bad news is ubiquitous? We examine the emotional consequences of exposure to brief snippets of COVID-related news via a Twitter feed (Study 1), or a YouTube reaction video (Study 2). Compared to a no-information exposure group, consumption of just 2-4 minutes of COVID-related news led to immediate and significant reductions in positive affect (Studies 1 and 2) and optimism (Study 2). Exposure to COVID-related kind acts did not have the same negative consequences, suggesting that not all social media exposure is detrimental for well-being. We discuss strategies to counteract the negative emotional consequences of exposure to negative news on social media.

MDMA-Assisted Therapy as a Means to Alter Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neurological Systems Underlying Social Dysfunction in Social Anxiety Disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent and often debilitating psychiatric disorder that can assume a chronic course even when treated. Despite the identification of evidence-based pharmacological and behavioral treatments for SAD, much room for improved outcomes exists and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been proposed as a promising adjunctive treatment to psychological interventions for disorders characterized by social dysfunction. A small randomized, placebo-controlled trial of MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) for social anxiety in autistic adults offered encouraging results, but more research is sorely needed to explore the potential for MDMA-AT in treating SAD. This review aims to stimulate future study by summarizing research on disruptions in neurological, perceptual, receptive, and expressive systems regulating social behavior in SAD and proposing how MDMA-AT may alter these systems across four domains. First, we review research highlighting the roles of social anhedonia and reduced social reward sensitivity in maintaining SAD, with specific attention to the reduction in positive affect in social situations, infrequent social approach behaviors, and related social skills deficits. We posit that MDMA-AT may enhance motivation to connect with others and alter perceptions of social reward for an extended period following administration, thereby potentiating extinction processes, and increasing the reinforcement value of social interactions. Second, we review evidence for the central role of heightened social evaluative threat perception in the development and maintenance of SAD and consider how MDMA-AT may enhance experiences of affiliation and safety when interacting with others. Third, we consider the influence of shame and the rigid application of shame regulation strategies as important intrapersonal processes maintaining SAD and propose the generation of self-transcendent emotions during MDMA sessions as a mechanism of shame reduction that may result in corrective emotional experiences and boost memory reconsolidation. Finally, we review research on the role of dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors in SAD that interfere with social functioning and, in particular, the development and maintenance of close and secure relationships. We discuss the hypothesized role of MDMA-AT in improving social skills to elicit positive interpersonal responses from others, creating a greater sense of belonging, acceptance, and social efficacy.

Total sleep deprivation reduces top-down regulation of emotion without altering bottom-up affective processing.

Sleep loss is reported to influence affective processing, causing changes in overall mood and altering emotion regulation. These aspects of affective processing are seldom investigated together, making it difficult to determine whether total sleep deprivation has a global effect on how affective stimuli and emotions are processed, or whether specific components of affective processing are affected selectively. Sixty healthy adults were recruited for an in-laboratory study and, after a monitored night of sleep and laboratory acclimation, randomly assigned to either a total sleep deprivation condition (n = 40) or a rested control condition (n = 20). Measurements of mood, vigilant attention to affective stimuli, affective working memory, affective categorization, and emotion regulation were taken for both groups. With one exception, measures of interest were administered twice: once at baseline and again 24 hours later, after the sleep deprived group had spent a night awake (working memory was assessed only after total sleep deprivation). Sleep deprived individuals experienced an overall reduction in positive affect with no significant change in negative affect. Despite the substantial decline in positive affect, there was no evidence that processing affectively valenced information was biased under total sleep deprivation. Sleep deprived subjects did not rate affective stimuli differently from rested subjects, nor did they show sleep deprivation-specific effects of affect type on vigilant attention, working memory, and categorization tasks. However, sleep deprived subjects showed less effective regulation of negative emotion. Overall, we found no evidence that total sleep deprivation biased the processing of affective stimuli in general. By contrast, total sleep deprivation appeared to reduce controlled processing required for emotion regulation.

Pathological Narcissism and Emotional Responses to Rejection: The Impact of Adult Attachment.

Background: Aspects of pathological narcissism, such as grandiosity, vulnerability and entitlement, tend be enacted in therapeutic settings, negatively influencing outcome and alliance between the clients and therapist. This research took an experimental approach to understanding the interplay between the emotional reactions of individuals with a pathological narcissistic presentation, and adult attachment style. We predicted that participants reporting narcissistic vulnerability would report greater insecurity in attachment (fearful and preoccupied styles), greater trait emotional reactivity, and also experience more intense and negative responses to simulated rejectionMethods: 269 participants (75.84% female, median age = 21) completed baseline and rejection trials of a virtual ball-tossing game, following the assessment of grandiose and vulnerable pathological narcissism, entitlement, adult attachment, trait emotional reactivity (measured prior to the rejection) and in-situ affective response (measured both before and after the rejection). Change in affect from baseline was calculated to capture affective responses to the manipulation.Results: Vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with both fearful and preoccupied attachment, and negatively associated with secure and dismissive attachment, whilst grandiose narcissism was significantly related to preoccupied attachment only. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed vulnerable narcissism predicted both (1) more negative trait emotional reactivity and (2) a significant increase in negative affect following the rejection trial. Grandiose narcissism was associated with (1) higher positive trait emotional reactivity, and (2) significant reductions in positive affect following rejection.Conclusion: Results indicated that those high in pathological narcissistic vulnerability reported greater insecurity in attachment, negative trait emotional reactivity and experienced a more negative and intense emotional reaction to rejection. Grandiose narcissism was related to a more deactivated pattern of emotional reactivity, and less positive (rather than more negative) emotional reactions. Findings have important implications for therapy, particularly regarding communication of emotions for individuals high in vulnerable and grandiose narcissism.

Vertical greenery buffers against stress: Evidence from psychophysiological responses in virtual reality

• We used VR to examine the buffering effects of vertical greenery against stressors. • Self-report measures show vertical greenery prevented reduction in positive affect. • Heart rate variability suggests vertical greenery prevented increase in stress. • Our results indicate that vertical greenery can be used to buffer stress.

Affective Development from Middle Childhood to Late Adolescence: Trajectories of Mean-Level Change in Negative and Positive Affect.

Adolescence has long been purported to be a period of emotional upheaval, yet relatively little is known regarding normative patterns of change in youth positive and negative affect across the adolescent transition. This study addressed this gap by examining normative patterns of mean-level change in youth positive and negative affect from middle childhood through late adolescence, encompassing the full span of adolescent development. Participants included 665 youth recruited in 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade cohorts (55.0% female; age 9-16 at baseline) who provided self-report ratings of positive and negative affect every 18 months for a period of three years in an accelerated longitudinal cohort design. Multi-level growth curve models revealed that adolescence is characterized by declines in positive affect and non-linear patterns of alternating decreases and increases in negative affect. Patterns of change differed across boys and girls. The findings from this study indicate that adolescence is characterized by normative reductions in positive affect in the context of labile negative affect, with implications for understanding processes of risk and resilience across the adolescent transition.

State extraversion and emergent leadership: Do introverts emerge as leaders when they act like extraverts?

Extraverts are more likely than introverts to emerge as leaders, however little is known about the explicit behaviours that cause such an advantage and what introverts can do to overcome their relative disadvantage. Utilising an experiment (n = 601) in a group context, we assessed the effects of manipulating state extraversion on peer-rated emergent leadership, self-rated emergent leadership, and post-activity affect. Participants completed a big five personality measure and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a control condition, an ‘act extraverted’ treatment, or an ‘act introverted’ treatment. Results confirmed extraverts' emergent leadership advantage but demonstrated that state extraversion was the proximal cause of emergent leadership, with both extraverts and introverts emerging as leaders when instructed to act extraverted. Acting introverted i) had a particularly deleterious effect on self-rated emergent leadership regardless of trait extraversion, ii) caused a reduction in positive affect for ambiverts and extraverts but not for introverts, and iii) caused an increase in negative affect for ambiverts and extraverts but not for introverts.

Leveraging the experience of stressors: the role of adaptive systematic self-reflection

ABSTRACTBackground: To date, little attention has been paid to the processes by which resilience is developed, and how the likelihood of a resilient outcome may be enhanced over the life course. Objective: This study investigates the potential for adaptive systematic self-reflection to support the development of situation resilience via stressor exposure. Design: An experimental randomized controlled design was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the Systematic Self-reflection intervention (n = 61) or disengagement control group (n = 60). Method: Participants were 121 university students (female = 68%) ranging in age from 18 to 56 years. Participants experienced two psychosocial stressors and completed a baseline survey, a second survey occurred post-stressor 1, and a third post-stressor 2. Salivary cortisol was taken pre stressor 2, immediately post stressor 2, and at 10 min intervals until 30 min. Results: The intervention was associated with greater reductions in negative affect, than a disengagement control task, and prevented the continued reduction in positive affect observed in the disengagement control condition. Moreover, the intervention promoted a steeper cortisol recovery trajectory, than the control condition for those with higher pre-stressor cortisol. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence that certain self-reflective practices may be involved in the development of resilience from stressor exposure.

AGE DIFFERENCES IN CONCORDANCE BETWEEN LAB AND DAILY LIFE STRESS RESPONSES

The literature is mixed with respect to how stress reactivity changes with age. Previous studies have overlooked contexts, ignoring whether stressors occurred in the laboratory or in daily life. The Health and Daily Experiences (HEADE) study includes 126 younger and older adults who completed both laboratory stressors and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of affect and stressor experiences in daily life. We found that the laboratory stressor elicited the greatest levels of negative affect reactivity (i.e., larger increases in negative affect) and positive affect reactivity (i.e., larger reductions in positive affect) compared to the two types of daily life stressors. Interpersonal stressors were associated with greater negative and positive affect reactivity compared to non-interpersonal stressors in daily life. Younger adults exhibited greater stress reactivity than older adults. Together, these findings support age-related reductions in stress reactivity. Implications for understanding stressor-health links are discussed.

Preschool-Onset Major Depressive Disorder is Characterized by Electrocortical Deficits in Processing Pleasant Emotional Pictures.

Reductions in positive affect are a salient feature of preschool-onset major depressive disorder. Yet, little is known about the psychophysiological correlates of this blunted positive affect and whether reduced physiological responding to pleasant stimuli may differentiate depressed and healthy young children. 120 four-to-seven year old children with current depression and 63 psychiatrically healthy 4-to-7year old children completed a simple picture-viewing task of pleasant and neutral pictures while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The early-childhood version of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Depression was used to establish psychiatric diagnoses. A one-way ANCOVA was used to test for group differences in response to pleasant and neutral pictures. Young children with depression showed a reduced response to pleasant vs. neutral pictures (LPP), after controlling for children's age (F(1,180) = 4.15, p = 0.04, η2 = 0.02). The LPP for the children with preschool-onset depression (M = 0.99, SE = 0.65) was significantly smaller than the LPP in the healthy group of young children (M = 3.27, SE = 0.90). This difference did not vary as a function of depression or anhedonia severity within the group with depression or the healthy children. Similar to older children and adolescents with depression, young children with depression display reductions in responsivity to pleasant stimuli as indexed by the LPP. These findings extend prior findings indicating a blunted response to pleasant stimuli in preschool- onset depression. Given the greater neuroplasticity of emotional response and regulation, these findings suggest clinical attention to emotional response to pleasure is an important target in preschool-onset depression. Clinical trial registration information: A Randomized Control Trial of PCIT-ED for Preschool Depression; http://clinicaltrials.gov/;NCT02076425.

A Transactional Model of Infant Still-Face Response and Maternal Behavior During the First Year.

AbstractThe present study takes a transactional approach to extend understanding of temporal relations between parenting behaviors and infant response to the face‐to‐face still‐face, a widely used method assessing infants’ affective and behavioral response to a violation of social expectations. A low‐income, urban sample of 180 mothers and infants participated when infants were 4 and 6 months old. Directional relations between infants’ still‐face response (i.e., change in affect and gaze from interaction to still face) and three parenting dimensions were examined using cross‐lagged structural equation models. Infant still‐face response predicted later parenting behavior, while the reverse association was not significant. Specifically, infants with a greater reduction in positive affect from interaction to still face had parents with more positive parenting and less negative parenting behaviors 2 months later, controlling for prior parenting and concurrent infant behavior. Furthermore, infants who increased gaze to mother from interaction to still face had mothers who used more mental state talk 2 months later. Findings underscore the importance of examining transactional relations between infant and parent behaviors, and in particular highlight the influence of infants on parents. Acknowledging these infant‐effects is critical to the development and implementation of interventions targeting parent‐infant interactions.

Manipulating affective state influences conditioned appetitive responses

ABSTRACTAffective states influence how individuals process information and behave. Some theories predict emotional congruency effects (e.g. preferential processing of negative information in negative affective states). Emotional congruency should theoretically obstruct the learning of reward associations (appetitive learning) and their ability to guide behaviour under negative mood. Two studies tested the effects of the induction of a negative affective state on appetitive Pavlovian learning, in which neutral stimuli were associated with chocolate (Experiment 1) or alcohol (Experiment 2) rewards. In both experiments, participants showed enhanced approach tendencies towards predictors of reward after a negative relative to a positive performance feedback manipulation. This increase was related to a reduction in positive affect in Experiment 1 only. No effects of the manipulation on conditioned reward expectancies, craving, or consumption were observed. Overall, our findings support the idea of counter-regulation, rather than emotional congruency effects. Negative affective states might therefore serve as a vulnerability factor for addiction, through increasing conditioned approach tendencies.

Too hot to help! Exploring the impact of ambient temperature on helping

AbstractBuilding on the conservation of resources model, we conducted three studies to explore the link between ambient temperature and individual prosocial behavior. In study 1, analyzing the two‐wave field data from a chain of retail stores in Eastern Europe, we find that, in hot, as opposed to normal temperatures, employees are less likely to act in a prosocial manner. In study 2, we replicate and extend these findings in a randomized controlled experiment by identifying mechanisms underlying the relationship between hot ambient temperature and helping behavior. Specifically, we find that heat increases fatigue that leads to reduction in positive affect and subsequently reduces individual helping. Finally, in study 3, we replicate these findings in a field experiment. Taken together, our study helps to explain how and through what mechanisms ambient temperature influences individual helping. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

0151 COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF ACUTE TOTAL SLEEP DEPRIVATION, CHRONIC SLEEP RESTRICTION AND RECOVERY SLEEP ON POSITIVE AFFECT

Introduction: Positive affect helps people in coping with difficult situations. People with high positive affect have been shown to be happier, have more success in life and better relationships than people scoring low. Positive affect is reduced during chronic and acute sleep loss. The aims of the present study were 1) to establish the adverse effect of 5 days of sleep restriction on positive affect, 2) to test whether one night of recovery sleep reverses this effect, and 3) to test whether the combined effects of prior sleep restriction and acute sleep deprivation are cumulative. Methods: In an ongoing investigation, 27 healthy volunteers completed two baseline nights (8h TIB) and either five nights of sleep restriction (experimental group: 5h TIB, N=18, mean age 26±3 years, 9 females) or regular sleep (control group: 8h TIB, N=9, mean age 25±5 years, 3 females). Thereafter, all participants had 8h of recovery sleep and 38h of total sleep deprivation. Participants filled out the mood scale PANAS at 9 a.m. on all days. Differences in the positive affect subscale between experimental days and the second baseline day were calculated. Results: Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Bonferroni-adjusted alpha-level showed a decrease in positive affect after one night of sleep restriction (Δ5.06±3.78; p<.001). Positive affect scores of the last day of chronic sleep restriction and of the day after recovery sleep did not differ (Δ1.33±4.67; p=.18). Positive affect decreased from the last day of chronic sleep restriction to acute sleep deprivation (Δ4.11±4.27; p=.001) for the experimental group. No significant difference was found between chronic sleep restriction (last day) in the experimental group and total sleep deprivation in the control group (Mann-Whitney-U-Test, z(26)=-1.24; p=.5). Conclusion: Chronic sleep loss for five days exhibited long-lasting effects on the reduction of positive affect which were not reset by one recovery night. Positive affect decreased further following acute sleep deprivation, indicating that people’s sleep curtailing lifestyles make them more vulnerable to additional acute sleep loss. Five days of chronically reduced sleep exhibited a comparable reduction in positive affect as a sleepless night.

Adaptive Self-regulation in Cycle Time Trials: Goal Pursuit, Goal Disengagement and the Affective Experience

Self-regulation research analyses behaviour and emotion through goal progress (Carver and Scheier 2013). Goal disengagement is advocated as an adaptive self-regulatory strategy for unattainable goals to reduce distress (Wrosch et al. 2003a; 2003b). In an attempt to further understand ongoing goal pursuit and emotions on endurance athletes, this paper applies adaptive self-regulation theory to interpret and explain the experiences of three cyclists in case studies which display variations in success and failure. Following criterion sampling methods we analysed positive and negative affect, goal expectancy and power output from three male participants (triathletes or cyclists; age range 26-50 yrs) who either successfully achieved their goal (Participant 1), were unsuccessful yet recalculated their goal (Participant 2) or failed to achieve their goal (Participant 3) in a 20 km laboratory cycle time trial. Post trial qualitative data provided explanations regarding pacing, perceptions of achievement and feeling states (self-chosen adjectives). Positive affect tracked goal expectancy with increases in positive affect when power output exceeded previous trial averages and goal expectations were high evidencing successful goal striving (Participant 1). Reductions in positive affect occurred where goal progress was below expectations. This reduction was dramatic in the unsuccessful trial (Participant 3). Low levels of positive affect and high levels of negative affect were reported from 12 – 20 km together with disappointment, unexpected feelings of a loss of control and fatigue, suggesting unsuccessful goal striving. Supporting goal disengagement theory, a relinquishment of goal commitment was evident for participant 2 who recalculated his goal. Despite being unsuccessful in achieving his original goal participant 2 reported positive feeling states and perceptions of control post trial indicating adaptive self-regulation strategies were effective in his specific situation. These findings emphasise the need to examine practical adaptive self-regulation strategies in sport and relationships between affect, decision making and goal striving.

A comparison of the effects of rhythm and robotic interventions on repetitive behaviors and affective states of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Repetitive behaviors and poor affect regulation are commonly seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We compared the effects of two novel interventions—rhythm and robotic therapies, with those of a standard-of-care intervention, on the repetitive behaviors and affective states of 36 children with ASD between 5 and 12 years using a randomized controlled trial design. We coded for frequencies of sensory, negative, and stereotyped behaviors and the duration of positive, negative, and interested affective states in children during early, mid, and late training sessions. In terms of repetitive behaviors, in the early session, the rhythm and robot groups engaged in greater negative behaviors, whereas the comparison group engaged in greater sensory behaviors. With training, the rhythm group reduced negative behaviors whereas there were no training-related changes in the other groups. In terms of affective states, the rhythm and robot groups showed greater negative affect, whereas the comparison group demonstrated greater interested affect across all sessions. With training, the rhythm group showed a reduction in negative affect and an increase in interested affect whereas the robot group showed a reduction in positive affect. Overall, it appears that rhythm-based interventions are socially engaging treatment tools to target core impairments in autism.

Activity disruption and depressive symptoms in women living with metastatic breast cancer.

Women with breast cancer are at increased risk of depression, and the extent to which valued activities are disrupted by one's illness has been correlated with depressive symptoms in women with early stage breast cancer. This association has not been examined in women with Stage IV (metastatic) cancer, and the temporal directionality of this relationship remains unclear. The goal of the current study was to examine longitudinal, reciprocal relationships between illness-related disruption of social and recreational activities and self-reported symptoms of depression in a sample of women living with Stage IV breast cancer. Participants were 103 women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Women completed measures of depressive symptoms and activity disruption at study entry (T1) and at 3-month follow-up (T2). Activity disruption at study entry did not significantly predict changes in total depressive symptoms or in negative affective or somatic symptoms but did predict reductions in positive affect. Total depressive symptoms at study entry predicted increases in activity disruption, as did negative affective symptoms. Depressive symptoms, specifically negative affective symptoms such as sadness, may exacerbate social and recreational activity disruption in women with metastatic breast cancer. Cancer-related activity disruption may, in turn, result in reductions in positive affect. These results highlight the importance of examining specific constellations of depressive symptoms and suggest that maintaining valued activities may help to preserve enjoyment of life for patients with Stage IV cancer.