Cited by 431Mental Health Research TopicsPsychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Complex affect dynamics add limited information to the prediction of psychological well-being.

Open access
Dejonckheere, Egon, Mestdagh, Merijn, Houben, Marlies, Rutten, Isa, Sels, Laura, Kuppens, Peter, Tuerlinckx, Francis·2019·Nature Human Behaviour

Abstract

Over the years, many studies have demonstrated a relation between emotion dynamics and psychological well-being 1. Because our emotional life is inherently time-dynamic 2-6, affective scientists argue that, next to how positive or negative we feel on average, patterns of emotional change are informative for mental health 7-10. This growing interest initiated a surge in new affect dynamic measures, each claiming to capture a unique dynamical aspect of our emotional life, crucial for understanding well-being. Although this accumulation suggests scientific progress, researchers have not always evaluated (a) how different affect dynamic measures empirically interrelate and (b) what their added value is in the prediction of psychological well-being. Here, we address these questions by analysing affective time series data from 15 studies (n = 1,777). We show that (a) considerable interdependencies between measures exist, suggesting that single dynamics often do not convey unique information, and (b) dynamic measures have little added value over mean levels of positive and negative affect (and variance in these affective states) when predicting individual differences in three indicators of well-being (life satisfaction, depressive symptoms and borderline symptoms). Our findings indicate that conventional emotion research is currently unable to demonstrate independent relations between affect dynamics and psychological well-being.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41562-019-0555-0

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Authors
Dejonckheere, E., Mestdagh, M., Houben, M., Rutten, I., Sels, L., Kuppens, P., & Tuerlinckx, F.
Affiliations
KU Leuven (BE)
Corresponding author
  • Dejonckheere, Egon
  • Mestdagh, Merijn
Venue
Nature Human Behaviour
Published
2019-04-15
Volume
3
Issue
5
Pages
478-491
ISSN
2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2902635246
Cited by
431
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 13 · 2014: 1
FWCI
7.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
affect dynamics, emotional dynamics, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, borderline symptoms, positive and negative affect
MeSH terms
Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, Major Depressive Disorder, Emotions, Humans, Personal Satisfaction, Psychometrics

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