Adolescence is often characterized by an increase in negative affect and depressive symptoms. Sleep problems are common in depressed adolescents. Previous research indicates that sleep and mood are...Show moreAdolescence is often characterized by an increase in negative affect and depressive symptoms. Sleep problems are common in depressed adolescents. Previous research indicates that sleep and mood are bidirectionally associated. However, the predictive relationship between daily mood and sleep in the next night remains less clear. The current study aimed to compare subjective sleep quality between healthy and depressed adolescents. Secondly, this study aimed to examine whether the daily mood of the adolescents and parents, as well as parent-child interactions, predict sleep quality. A 14-day longitudinal observational study using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was conducted in a sample of depressed (n = 80) and healthy adolescents (n = 35), aged between 11 and 17 years (M = 15.79, SD = 1.46), and their parents (n = 216). 65.6% of the participants were female and 34,4% were male. Participants completed four daily assessments on their mobile phones. The results indicate that adolescents with depression suffer from poorer sleep quality than healthy adolescents (MD = 1.60 (95% CI, 1.39 to 1.82), t(366.88) = 14.48, p < 0.001). Daily positive affect of the adolescent (b = 0.16, t(773.05) = 3.21, p < 0.001) and daily positive affect of the parents (b = 0.18, t(605.26) = 2.57, p = 0.01) were associated with better sleep quality of the adolescents. The effect of adolescent positive affect disappeared when controlling for other variables. Increasing positive affect during the day might consequently improve sleep quality. Interventions should consider the role of the family environment in adolescent sleep.Show less
The current study aimed to investigate the influence of positive feedback from peers on positive and negative affect in highly socially anxious students. High social anxiety is related to low...Show moreThe current study aimed to investigate the influence of positive feedback from peers on positive and negative affect in highly socially anxious students. High social anxiety is related to low positive affect and high negative affect. Positive affect is considered as a global and unidimensional factor that refers to valence and not to a specific positive emotion, that makes life enjoyable and also contributes in the increase of psychological flexibility and social bonds development. In the present study, 40 university students were asked to perform a speech task and received positive or neutral feedback from two individuals of the same age immediately after the speech. In order to see whether there are changes in positive affect and negative affect, each affect was measured at two time points, session one and session two with a 1-week interval. Results showed that participants who received positive feedback interpreted the feedback more positively than participants who received neutral feedback. There was no significant difference between positive and neutral feedback conditions on the positive affect and negative affect levels. Furthermore, positive affect seemed to decrease from the first to second session regardless of the feedback received, and negative affect was relatively stable. These findings are in contrast to previous findings regarding social anxiety and social feedback with positive valence in social situations. Our results suggest that people with social anxiety do attend to positive social situations but that this does not necessarily influence the way they feel to be more positive.Show less
