The bipolarity of affect and depressive symptoms

E Dejonckheere; M Mestdagh; M Houben; Y Erbas; M Pe; P Koval; A Brose; B Bastian; P Kuppens

Journal article

The bipolarity of affect and depressive symptoms

E Dejonckheere, M Mestdagh, M Houben, Y Erbas, M Pe, P Koval, A Brose, B Bastian, P Kuppens

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000186

Abstract

People differ in the extent to which they experience positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) rather independently or as bipolar opposites. Here, we examine the proposition that the nature of the relation between positive and negative affect in a person's emotional experience is indicative of psychological well-being, in particular the experience of depressive symptoms, typically characterized by diminished positive affect (anhedonia) and increased negative affect (depressed mood). In three experience sampling studies, we examine how positive and negative affective states are related within people's emotional experience in daily life and how the degree of bipolarity of this relation is associa..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Peter Koval Author

Brock Bastian Author

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A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF AFFECTIVE DISTURBANCE

We are in the midst of a depression and anxiety epidemic that cannot be explained by focusing on individual experiences alone. We desperatel..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The research leading to the results reported in this article was supported by the Research Fund of KU Leuven (GOA/15/003; OT/11/031), by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles program financed by the Belgian government (IAP/P7/06), and by the Australian Research Council Discovery grant awarded to Brock Bastian and Peter Kuppens (DP140103757). E. Dejonckheere and P. Kuppens contributed to the study concept. M. Houben, Y. Erbas, M. Pe, P. Koval, B. Bastian, and P. Kuppens conceptualized the experience sampling studies and provided the data for the present study. E. Dejonckheere and M. Mestdagh analyzed the data and interpreted the results under supervision of P. Kuppens. E. Dejonckheere drafted the article, and P. Kuppens, P. Koval, and A. Brose critically revised the article. All authors approved the final version of the article for submission. The authors declare no conflict of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article.