The naturalistic reinforcement of worry from positive and negative emotional contrasts: Results from a momentary assessment study within social interactions
Open accessAbstract
Background The Contrast Avoidance Model (Newman & Llera, 2011) proposes that worry is reinforced by avoiding a negative contrast and increasing the likelihood of a positive contrast.Objective To determine if reinforcement of worry occurs naturalistically via contrasts in both negative and positive emotion.Method Using event-contingent momentary assessment we assessed social interactions, pre-interaction state worry and pre-post interaction positive and negative emotion. Participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; N = 83) completed an online questionnaire after social interactions lasting at least 1 min for 8 days. Three-level multilevel models were conducted.Results Higher worry was concurrently associated with increased negative emotion and decreased positive emotion. Regardless of pre-interaction worry level, negative emotion decreased, and positive emotion increased from before to after interactions, suggesting that most interactions were benign or positive. At lower levels of pre-interaction worry, participants experienced increased negative emotion and decreased positive emotion from before to after interactions. At higher levels of pre-interaction worry, participants experienced decreased negative emotion and increased positive emotion from before to after interactions.Conclusion Among persons with GAD, worrying before social interactions may be both negatively and positively reinforced; furthermore, not worrying before social interactions may be both negatively and positively punished.
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Mediation alone does not necessarily provide a complete understanding of the underlying change mechanism.
“although temporal precedence was established, it is essential to note that mediation alone does not necessarily provide a complete understanding of the underlying change mechanism [69].”
From Treatment condition as a moderator and change in trait mindfulness as a mediator of a brief mindfulness ecological momentary intervention for generalized anxiety disorder (2024) · cites this paper as [69]
The Methods > Data Analyses section describes multilevel models of worry and changes in affect, not a mediation analysis. A search for mediation found it only in titles in the References; no passage in our copy addresses whether mediation alone can explain an underlying change mechanism. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Newman, M. G., Schwob, J. T., Rackoff, G. N., Doren, N. V., Shin, K. E., & Kim, H.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Long Island University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Newman, Michelle G.
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-12
- Volume
- 92
- Pages
- 102634
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10187062
- OpenAlex
- W4296691868
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 5.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 668 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- ScholarSphere (Penn State Libraries) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH115128)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Keywords
- worry, generalized anxiety disorder, positive emotions, negative emotions, social interaction, momentary assessment, emotion regulation
- MeSH terms
- Social Interaction, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Emotions, Humans, Surveys and Questionnaires
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