Ecological momentary assessment of affect in depression-prone and control samples: Survey compliance and affective yield

Negative affect variability differs between anxiety and depression on social media

OBJECTIVE

Negative affect variability is associated with increased symptoms of internalizing psychopathology (i.e., depression, anxiety). The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM) suggests that individuals with anxiety avoid negative emotional shifts by maintaining pathological worry. Recent evidence also suggests that the CAM can be applied to major depression and social phobia, both characterized by negative affect changes. Here, we compare negative affect variability between individuals with a variety of anxiety and depression diagnoses by measuring the levels and degree of change in the sentiment of their online communications.

METHOD

Participants were 1,853 individuals on Twitter who reported that they had been clinically diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (A cohort, n = 896) or a depressive disorder (D cohort, n = 957). Mean negative affect (NA) and negative affect variability were calculated using the Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentiment Reasoning (VADER), an accurate sentiment analysis tool that scores text in terms of its negative affect content.

RESULTS

Findings showed differences in negative affect variability between the D and A cohort, with higher levels of NA variability in the D cohort than the A cohort, U = 367210, p < .001, r = 0.14, d = 0.25. Furthermore, we found that A and D cohorts had different average NA, with the D cohort showing higher NA overall, U = 377368, p < .001, r = 0.12, d = 0.21.

LIMITATIONS

Our sample is limited to individuals who disclosed their diagnoses online, which may involve bias due to self-selection and stigma. Our sentiment analysis of online text may not completely capture all nuances of individual affect.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with depression diagnoses showed a higher degree of negative affect variability compared to individuals with anxiety disorders. Our findings support the idea that negative affect variability can be measured using computational approaches on large-scale social media data and that social media data can be used to study naturally occurring mental health effects at scale.

Predicting Completion of Ecological Momentary Assessments Among Substance-Using Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Noncompletion of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys is a common issue and may yield bias in results if not properly handled. Using data observed at scheduled times as well as data retrieved later to fill missing responses, this study aims to investigate predictors of EMA completion, including demographic characteristics, time-related factors, and momentary experiences/behaviors. Data were from a 30-day EMA study including 145 women currently experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and using substances. The average rate of EMA completion was initially 51.4% at the scheduled times and increased to 72.6% after incorporating data from later-retrieved surveys. Participants who were younger, had more children, or had lower mean levels of negative affect dysregulation showed lower completion rates. At the momentary survey level, more days into the study and afternoon/evening reports (vs. morning reports) were associated with lower completion; lower levels of negative affect dysregulation, less smoking or alcohol use, and experiencing IPV were linked to lower momentary completion. Implications of the results for handling missing data in EMA are discussed and have important ramifications for future research, practice, and theory.

The effects of short video app-guided loving-kindness meditation on college students' mindfulness, self-compassion, positive psychological capital, and suicide ideation

OBJECTIVE

The study investigated the effects of a short video app guided loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on college students' mindfulness, self-compassion, positive psychological capital, and suicide ideation. The purpose of the study is to investigate the intervention effect of LKM training on suicidal ideation among college students with the help of the short video application and to provide an empirical basis for the exploration of early suicide intervention strategies for college students.

METHODS

We recruited 80 college students from a university in China. The final 74 eligible participants were divided into two groups: app use group (n = 37) and the control group (n = 37). The app group accepted an 8-week app use interference, while the control group underwent no interference. We measured four major variable factors (mindfulness, self-compassion, positive psychological capital, and suicide ideation) before and after the app use intervention.

RESULTS

In the app group, self-compassion and positive psychological capital were significantly higher, and suicide ideation was significantly lower than the control group. In the control group, there were no noticeable differences in any of the four variables between the pre-test and post-test.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate that the short video app guided LKM may help to improve self-compassion, and positive psychological capital, and reduce suicide ideation. The finding of the short video app-guided LKM's effect extends our understanding of the integrative effects of positive psychology and digital media on the reduction of suicide ideation.

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Heavy Episodic Drinking in the Early Postpartum Period: A Feasibility Study

Background

Postpartum mothers are at heightened risk for heavy episodic drinking (HED). Research with this population is critical to developing acceptable and effective tailored interventions, but new mothers who use alcohol are often reluctant to engage in research due to stigma and fear of child removal. This study examined feasibility of recruitment and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in early postpartum mothers with histories of HED.

Methods

Participants were recruited via Facebook and Reddit and completed 14 days of EMA surveys. Baseline characteristics, recruitment feasibility, and EMA feasibility and acceptability were examined. Participants attended focus groups to further inform quantitative data.

Results

Reddit yielded a larger proportion of eligible individuals than Facebook, and 86% of the final enroled sample was recruited via Reddit. The average compliance rate of 75% is in line with other studies of similar populations. Half the sample reported alcohol use, and 78% reported the urge to drink at least once, supporting feasibility of EMA for collecting alcohol use data. Participants reported low burden and high acceptability of the study on both quantitative and qualitative measures. Baseline low maternal self-efficacy was associated with greater EMA compliance, and first-time mothers reported lower EMA burden compared to veteran mothers. College graduates, and participants with lower drinking refusal self-efficacy and greater alcohol severity were more likely to report alcohol use on EMA.

Conclusions

Future studies should consider Reddit as a recruitment strategy. Findings generally support feasibility and acceptability of EMA to assess HED in postpartum mothers.