The Affective Side of Disruptive Behavior: Toward Better Understanding, Assessment, and Treatment.

Historically, much of the progress made in youth mental health research can be classified as focusing on externalizing problems, characterized by disruptive behavior (e.g. aggression, defiance), or internalizing problems, characterized by intense negative affect (e.g. depression, anxiety). Until recently, however, less attention has been given to topics that lie somewhere in between these domains, topics that we collectively refer to as the affective side of disruptive behavior. Like the far side of the moon, the affective side of disruptive behavior captures facets of the phenomenon that may be less obvious or commonly overlooked, but are nonetheless critical to understand. This affective side clarifies socially disruptive aspects of traditionally "externalizing" behavior by elucidating proximal causation via intense negative affect (traditionally "internalizing"). Such problems include irritability, frustration, anger, temper loss, emotional outbursts, and reactive aggression. Given a recent explosion of research in these areas, efforts toward integration are now needed. This special issue was developed to help address this need. Beyond the present introductory article, this collection includes 4 empirical articles on developmental psychopathology topics, 4 empirical articles on applied treatment/assessment topics, 1 evidence base update review article on measurement, and 2 future directions review articles concerning outbursts, mood, dispositions, and youth psychopathology more broadly. By deliberatively investigating the affective side of disruptive behavior, we hope these articles will help bring about better understanding, assessment, and treatment of these challenging problems, for the benefit of youth and families.

Social Media Use as a Predictor of Positive and Negative Affect: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Adolescents with and without Clinical Depression.

Social media use is common in adolescents, with implications for psychosocial development and the emergence of depression. Yet, little is known about the time-linked connections between social media use and adolescents' affective experiences and how they may differ between depressed and non-depressed youth. We leveraged ecological momentary assessment in adolescents oversampled for current depression to examine (1) associations between social media use and concurrent and later positive and negative affect and (2) sex and presence of a depressive disorder as moderators of these associations. Adolescents aged 14-17 with (n = 48) and without (n = 97) clinical depression, as indicated via clinical interview, reported momentary social media use and positive and negative affect seven times per day for one week. Multilevel modeling indicated that social media use was associated with reduced positive affect both concurrently and at the next assessment. Further, among clinically depressed youth only, social media use was associated with reduced negative affect at the next assessment. Results suggest that social media use may reduce both positive and negative affect, highlighting the nuanced relation between adolescent social media use and emotional health and laying the groundwork for future research to address several open questions.

Investigating Receptivity and Affect Using Machine Learning: Ecological Momentary Assessment and Wearable Sensing Study.

BACKGROUND: As mobile health (mHealth) studies become increasingly productive owing to the advancements in wearable and mobile sensor technology, our ability to monitor and model human behavior will be constrained by participant receptivity. Many health constructs are dependent on subjective responses, and without such responses, researchers are left with little to no ground truth to accompany our ever-growing biobehavioral data. This issue can significantly impact the quality of a study, particularly for populations known to exhibit lower compliance rates. To address this challenge, researchers have proposed innovative approaches that use machine learning (ML) and sensor data to modify the timing and delivery of surveys. However, an overarching concern is the potential introduction of biases or unintended influences on participants' responses when implementing new survey delivery methods. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to demonstrate the potential impact of an ML-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) delivery system (using receptivity as the predictor variable) on the participants' reported emotional state. We examine the factors that affect participants' receptivity to EMAs in a 10-day wearable and EMA-based emotional state-sensing mHealth study. We study the physiological relationships indicative of receptivity and affect while also analyzing the interaction between the 2 constructs. METHODS: We collected data from 45 healthy participants wearing 2 devices measuring electrodermal activity, accelerometer, electrocardiography, and skin temperature while answering 10 EMAs daily, containing questions about perceived mood. Owing to the nature of our constructs, we can only obtain ground truth measures for both affect and receptivity during responses. Therefore, we used unsupervised and supervised ML methods to infer affect when a participant did not respond. Our unsupervised method used k-means clustering to determine the relationship between physiology and receptivity and then inferred the emotional state during nonresponses. For the supervised learning method, we primarily used random forest and neural networks to predict the affect of unlabeled data points as well as receptivity. RESULTS: Our findings showed that using a receptivity model to trigger EMAs decreased the reported negative affect by >3 points or 0.29 SDs in our self-reported affect measure, scored between 13 and 91. The findings also showed a bimodal distribution of our predicted affect during nonresponses. This indicates that this system initiates EMAs more commonly during states of higher positive emotions. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed a clear relationship between affect and receptivity. This relationship can affect the efficacy of an mHealth study, particularly those that use an ML algorithm to trigger EMAs. Therefore, we propose that future work should focus on a smart trigger that promotes EMA receptivity without influencing affect during sampled time points.

Mental Health Monitoring: Design Concept of a Smartphone Application.

Mental health (MH) has become a global issue. Digital phenotyping in mental healthcare provides a highly effective, scaled, cost-effective approach to handling global MH problems. We propose an MH monitoring application. The application monitors overall MH based on mood, stress, behavior, and personality. Further, it proposes objective MH assessment from smartphone data and subjective screening of MH via periodic, short, self-report standardized questionnaires.

A Comparison of Hugging Frequency and Its Association with Momentary Mood Before and During COVID-19 Using Ecological Momentary Assessment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a drastic decrease in human social interactions including social touch. One of the most prevalent forms of touch is hugging. Hugging has been demonstrated to benefit both physical and mental well-being. In the present study, we used an ecological momentary assessment approach to assess the relationship between hugging and momentary mood in two independent cohorts sampled prior or during the pandemic. We found that the frequency of hugging was significantly reduced during the pandemic. Using multilevel modeling, we found a significant positive association between momentary mood and daily hugs. This effect was moderated by the cohort, as individuals during the pandemic showed a stronger positive association compared to the cohort sampled prior to the pandemic. While we have to stress that our results are correlational in nature, they potentially indicate that social touch is more beneficial in times of social distancing.

Day-to-day affect fluctuations in adults with childhood trauma history: a two-week ecological momentary assessment study.

BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma (CT) may increase vulnerability to psychopathology through affective dysregulation (greater variability, autocorrelation, and instability of emotional symptoms). However, CT associations with dynamic affect fluctuations while considering differences in mean affect levels across CT status have been understudied. METHODS: 346 adults (age = 49.25 ± 12.55, 67.0% female) from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety participated in ecological momentary assessment. Positive and negative affect (PA, NA) were measured five times per day for two weeks by electronic diaries. Retrospectively-reported CT included emotional neglect and emotional/physical/sexual abuse. Linear regressions determined associations between CT and affect fluctuations, controlling for age, sex, education, and mean affect levels. RESULTS: Compared to those without CT, individuals with CT reported significantly lower mean PA levels (Cohen's d = -0.620) and higher mean NA levels (d = 0.556) throughout the two weeks. CT was linked to significantly greater PA variability (d = 0.336), NA variability (d = 0.353), and NA autocorrelation (d = 0.308), with strongest effects for individuals reporting higher CT scores. However, these effects were entirely explained by differences in mean affect levels between the CT groups. Findings suggested consistency of results in adults with and without lifetime depressive/anxiety disorders and across CT types, with sexual abuse showing the smallest effects. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with CT show greater affective dysregulation during the two-week monitoring of emotional symptoms, likely due to their consistently lower PA and higher NA levels. It is essential to consider mean affect level when interpreting the impact of CT on affect dynamics.

Evaluating dynamics in affect structure with latent Markov factor analysis.

In intensive longitudinal research, researchers typically consider the structure of affect to be stable across individuals and contexts. Based on an assumed theoretical structure (e.g., one bipolar or two separate positive and negative affect constructs), researchers create affect scores from items (e.g., sum or factor scores) and use them to examine the dynamics therein. However, researchers usually ignore that the affect structure itself is dynamic and varies across individuals and contexts. Understanding these dynamics provides valuable insights into individuals' affective experiences. This study uses latent Markov factor analysis (LMFA) to study what affect structures underlie individuals' responses, how individuals transition between structures, and whether their individual transition patterns differ. Moreover, we explore whether the intensity of negative events and the personality trait neuroticism relate to momentary transitions and individual differences in transition patterns, respectively. Applying LMFA to experience sampling data (N = 153; age: mean = 22; SD = 7.1; range = 17-66), we identified two affect structures-one with three and one with four dimensions. The main difference was the presence of negative emotionality, and the affect dimensions became more inversely related when the affect structure included negative emotionality. Moreover, we identified three latent subgroups that differed in their transition patterns. Higher negative event intensity increased the probability of adopting an affect structure with negative emotionality. However, neuroticism was unrelated to subgroup-membership. Summarized, we propose a way to incorporate contextual and individual differences in affect structure, contributing to advancing the theoretical basis of affect dynamics research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding depression with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a short assessment of facts and perceptions.

Depression with an average prevalence of 25-40% is a serious condition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that can impact quality of life and survival of patients and caregiver burden, yet the underlying neurobiology is poorly understood. Preexisting depression has been associated with a higher risk of developing ALS, while people with ALS have a significantly higher risk of developing depression that can cause multiple complications. Depression may be a prodromal or subclinical symptom prior to motor involvement, although its relations with disease progression and impairment of quality of life are under discussion. Unfortunately, there are no studies existing that explore the pathogenic mechanisms of depression associated with the basic neurodegenerative process, and no specific neuroimaging data or postmortem findings for the combination of ALS and depression are currently available. Experience from other neurodegenerative processes suggests that depressive symptoms in ALS may be the consequence of cortical thinning in prefrontal regions and other cortex areas, disruption of mood-related brain networks, dysfunction of neurotransmitter systems, changing cortisol levels and other, hitherto unknown mechanisms. Treatment of both ALS and depression is a multidisciplinary task, depression generally being treated with a combination of antidepressant medication, physiotherapy, psychological and other interventions, while electroconvulsive therapy and deep brain stimulation might not be indicated in the majority of patients in view of their poor prognosis. Since compared to depression in other neurodegenerative diseases, our knowledge of its molecular basis in ALS is missing, multidisciplinary clinicopathological studies to elucidate the pathomechanism of depression in motor system disorders including ALS are urgently warranted.

Designing Worthy Waiting Spaces: A Cross-Cultural Study of Waiting Room Features and Their Impact on Women's Affective States.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the impact of ambulatory waiting room characteristics on patients' emotional states and investigates whether these states are universally experienced or influenced by social and cultural factors among women aged 18-35 from the three largest demographic groups in the United States: Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White. BACKGROUND: Patients typically spend more time waiting for routine medical appointments than receiving care, and evidence suggests that waiting can reinforces power dynamics that benefit privileged groups, leading to different experiences for minority women seeking preventative care. Still, literature addressing the impact of waiting areas is largely limited to universal measures, and little is known about how different ethnic/race groups respond to waiting spaces. METHODS: This inquiry used a questionnaire assessing 15 waiting room characteristics and testing four variables (furniture arrangement, room-scale, color saturation, and quantity of positive distractions) in a 2 × 3 quasiexperiment using a fractional randomized block design with 24 waiting room images. FINDINGS: Responses from 1,114 participants revealed mutual preferences for sociopetal seating, positive distractions, neutral colors, and welcoming and calming environments. Yet, Black participants indicated significantly greater importance in seeing ethnically/racially similar patients and healthcare providers and strategies that promote transparency, including image-based provider directories and views into the clinic. CONCLUSION: By investigating the impact of the waiting room environment on patient affect and comparing perceptions across three demographic groups of women, this study offers insights into potential strategies for improving access to preventative care services by creating more welcoming ambulatory care waiting environments.

Directional associations among real-time activity, sleep, mood, and daytime symptoms in major depressive disorder using actigraphy and ecological momentary assessment.

Previous research has suggested that individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) experienced alterations in sleep and activity levels. However, the temporal associations among sleep, activity levels, mood, and daytime symptoms in MDD have not been fully investigated. The present study aimed to fill this gap by utilizing real-time data collected across time points and days. 75 individuals with MDD and 75 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited. Ecological momentary assessments (EMA) were adopted to assess real-time mood status for 7 days, and actigraphy was employed to measure day-to-day sleep-activity patterns. Multilevel modeling analyses were performed. Results revealed a bidirectional association between mood/daytime symptoms and activity levels across EMA intervals. Increased activity levels were predictive of higher alert cognition and positive mood, while an increase in positive mood also predicted more increase in activity levels in depressed individuals. A bidirectional association between sleep and daytime symptoms was also found. Alert cognition was found to be predictive of better sleep in the subsequent night. Contrariwise, higher sleep efficiency predicted improved alert cognition and sleepiness/fatigue the next day. A unidirectional association between sleep and activity levels suggested that higher daytime activity levels predicted a larger increase in sleep efficiency among depressed individuals. This study indicated how mood, activity levels, and sleep were temporally and intricately linked to each other in depressed individuals using actigraphy and EMA. It could pave the way for novel and efficacious treatments for depression that target not just mood but sleep and activity levels.

Restricting social networking site use for one week produces varied effects on mood but does not increase explicit or implicit desires to use SNSs: Findings from an ecological momentary assessment study.

Recent research on the addictive potential of modern technologies such as the internet, smartphones, or social networking sites (SNSs) has suggested that emotional and motivational changes associated with the sudden discontinuation of engagement with the technology mirror the aversive consequences seen when drug use is ceased abruptly. This has been observed even in moderate users and interpreted as a manifestation of withdrawal, an important marker of physical dependence in substance use disorders. On the other hand, a growing literature emphasises the positive effects of "digital detox" on mental health and well-being. Using a battery of affective and motivational measures, both explicit and implicit, the present study tracked the effects of a week of significantly reduced SNS use in moderate to heavy SNS users (N = 51). Our pre-registered analyses showed that the intervention elicited affective changes neither consistent with a general withdrawal syndrome (i.e., increased negative affect and cravings) nor with a general beneficial effect on well-being: While our data indicated some abstinence-related decreases of negative affect and boredom, they also showed a reduction of positive affect. These changes occurred regardless of problematic/addictive use behaviours. Importantly, restricting SNS use for one week had no effect on implicit measures of SNS use motivation (i.e., approach biases, time distortion and effort expenditure for SNS access) nor did it influence explicit cravings and SNS cue-reactivity. Together our findings suggest that restricting SNS use has nuanced and potentially offsetting effects on well-being. These could arise because use reduction may concurrently remove experiences that trigger negative emotions (e.g., upward social comparisons or Fear of Missing Out) but also those that elicit positive emotions (e.g., social approval). The hypothesised lack of a net effect on well-being would be consistent with our finding that voluntary reduction of SNS use does not mitigate or exacerbate SNS-related urges.

The best of both worlds? General principles of psychopathology in personalized assessment.

A complex systems approach to psychopathology proposes that general principles lie in the dynamic patterns of psychopathology, which are not restricted to specific psychological processes like symptoms or affect. Hence, it must be possible to find general change profiles in time series data of fully personalized questionnaires. In the current study, we examined general change profiles in personalized self-ratings and related these to four measures of treatment outcome (International Symptom Rating, 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, daily symptom severity, and self-reflective capacity). We analyzed data of 404 patients with mood and/or anxiety disorders who completed daily self-ratings on personalized questionnaires during psychotherapy. For each patient, a principal component analysis was applied to the multivariate time series in order to retrieve an univariate person-specific time series. Then, using classification and regression methods, we examined these time series for the presence of general change profiles. The change profile classification yielded the following distribution of patients: no-shift (n = 55; 14%), gradual-change (n = 52; 13%), one-shift (n = 233; 58%), reversed-shift (n = 39; 10%) and multiple-shifts (n = 25; 6%). The multiple-shift group had better treatment outcome than the no-shift group on all outcome measures. The one-shift and gradual-change groups had better treatment outcome than the no-shift group on two and three outcome measures, respectively. Overall, this study illustrates that person-specific (idiographic) and general (nomothetic) aspects of psychopathology can be integrated in a complex systems approach to psychopathology, which may combine "the best of both worlds." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Momentary within-subject associations of affective states and physical behavior are moderated by weather conditions in real life: an ambulatory assessment study.

BACKGROUND: Physical behavior (PB) is a key lifestyle factor in regulating and preventing diseases across the lifespan. Researchers identified affective, cognitive, and contextual factors like weather conditions, as significant contributors in determining if individuals are physically active. However, there is scarce empirical evidence about potential associations between PB and affective states influenced by weather conditions in daily life. Therefore, we explored if weather conditions moderated the within-subject association between momentary affective states and subsequent PB. METHODS: Utilizing ambulatory assessment, 79 participants completed electronic diaries about their affective states (i.e., valence, energetic arousal, and calmness) up to six times a day over five days, and their PB (i.e., physical activity and sedentariness) was simultaneously recorded via accelerometers. Weather conditions (i.e., temperature and precipitation) recorded near participants' locations served as moderators in the multilevel analyses. RESULTS: We confirmed earlier findings associating affective states with PB. Increased valence and energetic arousal were positively associated with physical activity (ß = 0.007; p < .001), whereas calmness predicted lower levels of physical activity (ß = -0.006; p < .001). Higher levels of calmness showed a positive association with sedentary behavior (ß = 0.054; p = .003). In addition, we revealed a significant positive association between temperature, as a momentary weather condition, and physical activity (ß = 0.025; p = .015). Furthermore, we showed that the association of affective states and physical activity was moderated by temperature. Higher temperatures enhanced the positive effects of valence on physical activity (ß = .001, p = .023) and attenuated the negative effects of calmness on physical activity (ß = .001, p = .021). Moreover, higher temperatures enhanced the positive effects of valence on reduced sedentary behavior (ß = -0.011, p = .043). CONCLUSIONS: Temperature alterations appeared to have an impact on subsequent physical activity. Furthermore, temperature alterations moderated the influence of affective states on conducted physical activity. This might offer the opportunity for just-in-time adaptive interventions to intervene in individually appropriate environmental conditions for promoting physical activity.

The Controllability of Suicidal Thoughts (CoST) Scale: Development, factor structure, and initial validation.

Suicidal ideation (SI) is common, harmful, and distressing. Prior research suggests a person's sense of perceived control over their suicidal thoughts may be important for understanding risk level. However, no measurement tool currently exists to capture this experience. The present study seeks to establish a brief self-report instrument to assess the degree of perceived control an individual has over their suicidal thoughts. We conducted two studies to test the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Controllability of Suicidal Thoughts (CoST) scale. Two online convenience samples were used; participants were recruited via Prolific (Study 1; n = 244, Mage = 29.19, female = 51.2%, White = 68.9%, non-Hispanic = 92.6%, heterosexual = 48.0%) and via online webpages and forums (Study 2; n = 206, Mdnage = 25-30 years, female = 56.5%, White = 55.2%, non-Hispanic = 84.4%, heterosexual = 51.3%). Exploratory factor analyses (Study 1) yielded a two-factor structure for the CoST, which was replicated in the second sample. CoST scores were associated with various constructs related to suicidality (i.e., SI severity, self-efficacy to avoid suicidal action, suicide-related coping, hopelessness), locus of control, coping, and emotion dysregulation. Results indicate the CoST has high internal consistency (ω = .92), good test-retest reliability, and preliminary evidence of predictive and construct validities. The CoST shows promise for future research applications, aids our understanding of suicide-related cognitions, and may predict important suicide-related outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Modeling Idiographic Longitudinal Relationships between Affect and Cigarette Use: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

Background: Despite public knowledge of the adverse health effects of tobacco use, cigarettes remain widely used due to the addictive nature of nicotine. Physiologic adaptation to the presence of nicotine over time leads to unpleasant effects during withdrawal periods. Alongside these physiological effects, tobacco users often report changes in their consumption of tobacco in response to their emotional state. Objectives: We hypothesized that idiographic, or person-specific level, increases in participants' negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) ratings at a given time point would be associated with higher and lower craving and smoking over the following several hours, respectively. Fifty-two participants completed block randomized ecological momentary assessment surveys on their smartphones 4 times per day for 30 days, reporting from 0-100 their level of seven discrete emotions, stress, current craving, and smoking behavior. We analyzed the relationships between affect and smoking and craving using idiographic generalized linear models. Results: While some participants exhibited the hypothesized relationships, each participant varied in the strength and direction of the relationships between affect and craving/smoking. These outcomes were partially moderated at the group level by anxiety/depression at baseline, but not by level of nicotine dependence or sex. Conclusions: This suggests that the factors driving cigarette use vary significantly between individuals.

The role of impulse and interference control in aversive personality: A comprehensive assessment.

Ethically and socially aversive behaviors have been attributed to several personality traits, including characteristics collectively referred to under the umbrella term of impulsivity. It is an open question, however, whether such characteristics are an integral part of ethically and socially aversive personality. Relying on three large samples (total N = 9854) and implementing longitudinal assessments, the present study provides a comprehensive investigation of the role of impulse and interference control in aversive personality. Based on contemporary conceptualizations of the impulsivity domain, a total of 17 dimensions spanning both self-reports and behavioral tasks are assessed. To represent aversive personality, we consider the D Factor of Personality (D), i.e., the basic disposition shared by all aversive traits. Results indicate that D co-occurs with a deficit in inhibiting the incorrect action when multiple actions are available, a preference for immediate rewards while failing to consider the consequences of one's actions, and maladaptive behavior directed towards regulating strong affect. However, most associations between D and dimensions of impulsivity were small or non-significant, thereby disconfirming the notion that characteristics related to a lack of impulse control are an integral feature of aversive personality in general.

Food choice drivers at varying income levels in an emerging economy.

The purpose of this work was to explore and compare food choice drivers of low (LI), middle (MI) and high (HI) income urban people in an emerging economy (South Africa). Here, 13 focus group (FG) discussions [six LI, n = 36, 67% women; four MI, n = 22, 100% women and three HI, n = 17, 76% women; total n = 75) were transcribed, coded inductively and deductively and 17 food choice categories emerged. Eight of these, i.e., aspects related to: plant vs animal protein, food waste, food preparation, availability of resources, food exploration, social aspects and food spoilage, are not typically (e.g., sensory appeal, mood, health, convenience etc.) measured with established food choice questionnaires. Economic factors and Availability of food and resources were mentioned the most by LI participants compared to MI and HI. Whereas, Health; Familiarity and Food exploration were mostly mentioned by MI and HI participants. This study yielded a mixture of individual and environment based motives which add to our understanding of the "why" aspects underlying food choice in an urban and emerging economy. The fact that these aspects are compared by income group provides interesting information on the similarities and differences of how the food choice process unfolds across varying income groups. The insights from this study are useful for the development of an updated, quantitative food choice questionnaire for application in this and other emerging economies.

Bridging the parochial divide: Outsider brokerage in mafia families.

How do groups maintain internal solidarity and closure without compromising their access to diverse networks? A long line of previous research suggests focusing on the boundary-spanning activities of "brokers" who bridge gaps in social structure. In many contexts, however, brokers are viewed with suspicion and distrust rather than rewarded for their diversity of interests. This article examines groups in which the theoretical deck is seemingly stacked against brokerage and toward parochialism: American-Italian mafia families. Through an institutional analysis of the mafia organization, I trace how ethnic and organizational closure led marginalized actors to seek alternative paths to enrichment beyond the family-controlled networks and industries. Using a historical network data set, I document a division of network labor in which ethnic outsiders- more than other actors-benefited as bridges between parochial organizations. This illuminates a broader paradox of social organization: while social closure is typically thought important because it increases the group's power over individual members and reinforces boundaries, it can also undermine those same boundaries by pushing marginal actors to seek opportunities and connections outside the group.

Effects of Rumination and Mindful Self-Focus Inductions During Daily Life in Patients With Remitted Depression: An Experimental Ambulatory Assessment Study.

Rumination has been proposed as an important risk factor for depression, whereas mindful attention is considered a protective form of self-focusing. Experimental studies have demonstrated differential effects of these modes when induced in the lab. However, their impact on daily life processes is poorly understood, particularly in individuals vulnerable to depressive relapses. The aim of our study was to examine short- and longer-term effects of repeated brief rumination and mindful self-focus inductions during daily life on momentary mood, cognitions, and cortisol in patients with remitted depression (rMDD) as well as in healthy individuals, and to identify their potential differential effects in these groups. The study involved repeated short ambulatory inductions of a ruminative or a mindful self-focus during daily life with additional assessments of momentary mood, rumination, self-acceptance, and cortisol over 4 consecutive days in a sample of patients with rMDD (n = 32, ≥2 lifetime episodes, age 19-55 years) and matched healthy controls (n = 32, age 21-54 years). Multilevel models revealed differential immediate effects of the two induction modes on all momentary mood and cognitive outcomes (all p's < .001), but not on cortisol. Detrimental effects of rumination over mindful self-focus inductions were particularly strong for cognitions in the patient group. Longer-term effects of the inductions over the day were lacking. This study underlines immediate deteriorating effects of an induced ruminative compared to a mindful self-focus on momentary mood and cognitions during daily life in patients with rMDD and in healthy individuals. The observed stronger rumination-related reactivity in patients suggests heightened cognitive vulnerability. Understanding rumination- and mindfulness-based mechanisms of action in real-life settings can help to establish mechanism-based treatment options for relapse prevention in depression.

Inhibitory control and mood in relation to psychological resilience: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Psychological resilience, the ability to adapt to adversity, is theorized to rely on intact inhibitory control (IC) mechanisms, which underlie one's ability to maintain goal-directed behavior by inhibiting prepotent responses. However, no study to date has explored daily fluctuations of IC performance in relation to resilience. Here, we examined the association between IC and mood measured daily in relation to psychological resilience in young adults in a stressful situation. Baseline resilience was obtained from 144 female and male soldiers during their basic combat training. Then, participants completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol, in which they reported their momentary mood and completed a short IC assessment twice/day for 2 weeks. A hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that psychological resilience moderated the relationship between momentary IC and momentary mood, such that better IC was associated with better mood only for those with higher, but not lower, self-reported psychological resilience at baseline. These results show that psychological resilience is manifested in the everyday association between IC and mood. Furthermore, they lend important support to cognitive models of resilience and may have significant contribution to our understanding of resilient behavior in real life.Trial Registration: MOH_2018-0-13_002451.