Implicit affectivity in clinically depressed patients during acute illness and recovery

Potential transition of depression of older adults affected by socioeconomic status show different styles: A longitudinal study of Chinese older adults

Socioeconomic status' (SES) impact on depressive symptoms has been extensively examined; however, previous studies have generally used variable-centered approaches and cross-sectional designs. Therefore, this study explored the subtypes of depression and examined the degree of association between SES and latent transition probabilities. We used latent profile and latent transition analyses with the 2015 and 2018 waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N = 4904). Three subtypes of depression were identified based on symptoms: severe symptom (SS), low symptom (LS), and sub-health (MS). The SS subtype had the highest probability of staying within the original subtype. Individuals in the MS subtype were more likely to move to the SS subtype than those in the LS subtype. The heterogeneity analysis also showed that the effect of SES on latent transition probabilities is heterogeneous to the satisfaction with their relationship with their children, as well as the number of children. Additionally, decision tree analysis found SES and gender can predict transitioning. These findings add to literature on the effects of SES on the heterogeneity of depression and have implications for depression screening and identifying individuals in need of targeted interventions.

Implicit affectivity as the predictor of the relationship between paternal postpartum depression and self-stigma in fathers: A structural equation modeling analysis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the moderating role of the implicit affect in the relationship between postpartum depression and self-stigma.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 233 fathers using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS), and Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT) between July and August 2021. The structural equation model was used in data analysis.

RESULTS

Fathers received the following mean scores from the EPDS, SSDS, Implicit Positive Affect (IPA), and Implicit Negative Affect (INA) tests: 7.36 ± 5.55; 41.44 ± 10.04; 1.84 ± 0.62, and 2.50 ± 0.83, respectively. From the EPDS, 29.2% of the fathers received 10-30. It was found that postpartum depression negatively affects IPA (ß = -0.248, P < 0.001), whereas it positively affects SSDS (ß = 0.333, P < 0.001) and INA (ß = 0.344, P < 0.001). It was concluded that postpartum depression has a significant effect on the SSDS with the partial moderating role based on the IPA (ß = -0.298, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Postpartum depression is an important health problem in fathers. Implicit positive affect partially affects self-stigma in fathers with depressive symptoms. These results will guide the understanding of the stigmatization of fathers who experience depression during the transition to fatherhood.

Mapping the mental space of emotional concepts through kinematic measures of decision uncertainty

Emotional concepts and their mental representations have been extensively studied. Yet, some ecologically relevant aspects, such as how they are processed in ambiguous contexts (e.g., in relation to other emotional stimuli that share similar characteristics), are incompletely known. We employed a similarity judgement of emotional concepts and manipulated the contextual congruency of the responses along the two main affective dimensions of hedonic valence and physiological activation, respectively. Behavioural and kinematics (mouse-tracking) measures were combined to gather a novel 'similarity index' between emotional concepts, to derive topographical maps of their mental representations. Self-report (interoceptive sensibility, positive-negative affectivity, depression) and physiological measures (heart rate variability, HRV) have been collected to explore their possible association with emotional conceptual representation. Results indicate that emotional concepts typically associated with low arousal profit by contextual congruency, with faster responses and reduced uncertainty when contextual ambiguity decreases. The emotional maps recreate two almost orthogonal axes of valence and arousal, and the similarity measure captures the smooth boundaries between emotions. The emotional map of a subgroup of individuals with low positive affectivity reveals a narrower conceptual distribution, with variations in positive emotions and in individuals with reduced arousal (such as those with reduced HRV). Our work introduces a novel methodology to study emotional conceptual representations, bringing the behavioural dynamics of decision-making processes and choice uncertainty into the affective domain. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.

Not self-aware? Psychological antecedents and consequences of alienating from one’s actual motives, emotions, and goals

Philosophers and scientists have been puzzling over the potential antecedents and consequences of self-awareness or its relative absence since time immemorial. One major reason is the difficulty of identifying individuals’ actual needs, emotions, or goals and thus making statements about their level of self-awareness. Drawing on a “duality of mind” approach, we review our research that quantified discrepancies between first-person perspective and third-person perspective assessments of motives (“needs”), emotions, and goals as indicators of relative self-awareness. Also, we expand on their proximal causes related to personality–situation interactions and their emotional and motivational consequences. We discuss similarities among the three branches of research on motives, emotions, and goals and, lastly, provide an outlook for future research.

The Neural Correlates of the Abnormal Implicit Self-Esteem in Major Depressive Disorder: An Event-Related Potential Study

Implicit self-esteem (ISE) has been considered a critical factor in the development and maintenance of major depressive disorder (MDD). Further investigating the event-related potential (ERP) characteristics underlying abnormal ISE in MDD would be helpful for understanding the neural mechanism of MDD. For this purpose, 32 MDD patients and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to evaluate explicit self-esteem (ESE), and a self-esteem go/no-go association task (GNAT) was used to assess ISE. Electroencephalograms were synchronously recorded when performing the self-esteem GNAT. Behavioral data and ERP characteristics under different conditions were analyzed and compared within and across groups. The results showed that compared to HCs, MDD patients had significantly lower RSES scores and self-D scores of GNAT, which reflected lower levels of ESE and ISE, respectively. No significant correlation was found between RESE and self-D scores, and only RESE scores were significantly negatively correlated with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) score. The averaged centroparietal go-P3 amplitude under the self-positive condition was significantly smaller in MDD than in HCs. Moreover, HCs had a significantly larger average centroparietal go-P3 amplitude in self-positive than in self-negative conditions, while this pattern was opposite in the MDD group. The neural activity patterns for other conditions were similar between MDD and HCs. Our results suggested that patients with MDD have a decreased level of both ESE and ISE, and ISE might be more independent of clinical symptoms. Decreased neural processing that implicitly associate self with positive conditions (and relatively increased implicit association between self and negative conditions) might be important neural correlates for abnormal ISE in MDD.

Zoom or In-Person: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Time with Friends and Depressive Symptoms on Affect in Emerging Adults

INTRODUCTION

Depression is associated with increased negative affect (NA) and low positive affect (PA), as well as interpersonal difficulties. Although most studies examine symptoms and affect at only one time point, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) captures data on affect and activity in real time and across contexts. The present study used EMA to explore the links between in-person and virtual social interactions, depressive symptoms, and momentary affect.

METHODS

Emerging adults (N=86) completed a self-report measure of both general depression and dysphoria symptoms, followed by EMA surveys 8 times daily for one week, reporting momentary affect (PA and NA) and social context (in-person and virtual interactions with friends).

RESULTS

In-person, but not virtual, presence of friends was associated with increased PA overall. Depressive symptoms were linked to less time with in-person friends and elevated NA. There was also a significant interaction between in-person presence of friends and dysphoria in predicting NA, such that presence of in-person friends was associated with lower NA only for those low in dysphoria.

DISCUSSION

Findings suggest that time with in-person friends is associated with increased PA overall and decreased NA only for those lower in depressive symptoms, but these effects do not generalize to virtual interactions. Those with greater depressive symptoms may be less responsive to positive stimuli and experience less of an effect of friends' presence on affect. Alternatively, maladaptive social behaviors characteristic of depression may influence the effect of social interactions on affect.

Implicit Affect, Heart Rate Variability, and the Metabolic Syndrome

OBJECTIVE

Greater negative affect has been associated with an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome (METs). However, all studies to date have examined this association using explicit affect measures based on subjective ratings of emotional experiences. Prior studies suggest that implicit affect, representing the automatic, prereflective appraisal process involved in conscious emotional experiences, is associated with physiological stress responses independent of explicit affect. Furthermore, low resting heart rate variability (HRV) may increase the risk of stress-related diseases. The goals of this study were to evaluate the associations between implicit and explicit affect and METs and to assess whether these associations were amplified by lower HRV.

METHODS

This secondary analysis of a larger study included 217 middle-aged women who completed measures of implicit affect, explicit affect, high-frequency HRV, and the different components of METs.

RESULTS

There was a significant interaction between implicit negative affect and HRV predicting METs (odds ratio = 0.57, 95% confidence interval = 0.35-0.92), such that the combination of higher implicit affect and lower HRV was associated with a greater likelihood of METs. Similarly, there was a main effect of implicit negative affect as well as an interaction between implicit negative affect and HRV on the lipid accumulation product (b (standard error) = -0.06 (0.02), 95% confidence interval = -0.11 to -0.02), a combination of waist circumference and triglycerides.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher implicit negative affect in the context of lower HRV may be related to a greater risk of METs. The present findings highlight the relevance of including implicit affect measures in psychosomatic medicine research.