The effects of exercise on body satisfaction and affect

This research used ecological momentary assessment to examine the effects of exercise on state body dissatisfaction and affect in 33 undergraduate females with high trait body dissatisfaction and 28 with low trait body dissatisfaction who exercised at least three times weekly. Trait body dissatisfaction was investigated as a moderator of the effects of exercise as well as different motivations for exercise. Results indicated all participants experienced lower state body dissatisfaction and negative affect and greater positive affect post-exercise. Trait body dissatisfaction moderated the association between motivations and exercise effects. Appearance and weight motivations were related to higher state body dissatisfaction for all individuals. Fitness and health motivations were related to higher state body dissatisfaction for high trait body dissatisfied individuals and lower state body dissatisfaction for low trait body dissatisfied individuals. Thus, although exercise has positive effects on body dissatisfaction and affect for high frequency exercisers, their exercise motivations impact these effects.     

Inside the happy personality: Personality states,situation experience,and state affect mediate the relation between personality and affect

Personality traits are strongly related to affect, but the mechanisms accounting for this association remain mostly unclear. We test a new theoretical model that proposes that personality states, situation characteristics, and affective states mediate the relation between personality traits and trait affect. Data from an experience sampling study (N = 206; 4381 observations) indicate that personality traits are associated with personality states and experienced situation characteristics, personality states and experienced situation characteristics are associated with state affect, state affect is associated with trait affect, and that these variables indeed mediate the relation between personality traits and trait affect. These results emphasize the importance of daily experiences for trait-level variables and call for further research on the interplay between personality, behavior, situations, and affect.     

Cognitions as mediators in the relationship between self-compassion and affect

Previous studies suggest that self-compassion is related to numerous facets of mental health, but the role of cognitions in this relationship remains unknown. To examine the mediating role of cognitions in the relationship between self-compassion and anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction when controlling for self-esteem in Japanese people, we conducted two studies. Study 1 (N = 231) examined the relationship between self-compassion and affect by modeling negative automatic thoughts as a mediator; Study 2 (N = 233) tested whether positive and negative automatic thoughts meditate this relationship. Results suggested that both self-compassion and self-esteem increased positive automatic thoughts and decreased trait anxiety, whereas only self-esteem increased life satisfaction and decreased depression directly. Positive automatic thoughts increased life satisfaction and decreased depression and trait anxiety, and positive automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between self-compassion and negative affect. These findings suggest that both positive and negative automatic thoughts mediate the relationship between self-compassion and affect in Japanese people.     

Trait emotional intelligence as a predictor of socioemotional outcomes in early adolescence

Trait emotional intelligence (EI) refers to a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. This study investigated the predictive and incremental validity of this construct in a sample of 1140 pupils aged 11-13 years. Trait EI showed strong concurrent and predictive validity in relation to three measures of socioemotional competence: self-reported psychopathology as assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a sociometric measure of peer relations, and a peer-assessed measure of social behavior. Socioemotional measures were taken twice over a period of seven months. Structural equation modeling revealed trait EI and IQ effects on socioemotional competence (SEC), the former being stronger than the latter. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested an association also of trait with level of change in SEC (controlling for both IQ and SEC at time 1). The findings corroborate an important role for trait emotional intelligence in peer relations and socioemotional competence.     

Examining the within-person effect of affect on daily satisfaction

Assessments of global life satisfaction capture beliefs about overall well-being; state satisfaction assessments focus on short-term or “in-the-moment” appraisals of current life circumstances. Prior research has examined how trait measures of life satisfaction and affect are related at between-person and within-person levels of analysis. At the state level, however, a lack of clarity exists about the nature and magnitude of the association between satisfaction and affect. In a diary study involving assessments of both affect and satisfaction at the daily level (N = 350 with 6024 assessments), we found a consequential effect of affect on state satisfaction due to greater within-person variance over time.     

Examining the relationship between trait self-control and stress: Evidence on generalizability and outcome variability

Trait self-control has in several studies been found negatively linked to stress. These studies have, however, mostly relied on student and/or one-country samples. Study 1 investigated the generalizability of the relationship between trait self-control and stress through a four-country survey (N = 4097). The results showed consistently strong and negative relationships between trait self-control and stress across the four countries. Study 2 investigated the relationship between trait self-control and daily stress through a two-week diary study (N = 594; n_obs = 7880), showing that trait self-control was negatively related to daily stress and stress variability. Together, the two studies show that trait self-control’s negative link to stress generalizes beyond students and the United States.     

The influence of trait affect and the five-factor personality model on impulse buying

Research into the influence of affect on impulse buying has to date produced contradictory results, partly due to confusion between the potentially discrete influences of, respectively, state and trait affect. Additionally, studies on how the five-factor personality model’s dimensions influence impulse buying have also produced contradictory results. Moreover, while the established link between trait affect and personality suggests dimensions of this latter could account for whatever influence the former has on impulse buying, no study has yet attempted to examine this possibility. We draw on self-regulation theory to examine three unanswered questions: (1) the extent to which trait affect influences impulse buying whilst controlling for state affect; (2) establish which dimensions of the five-factor personality model predict impulse buying; and (3) test whether or not any influence of trait affect on impulse buying is additive to the effects of the five-factor personality model. Analyses of cross-sectional data (n = 842) find that trait affect does have a significant (p < .05) influence on impulse buying controlling for state affect, but that this influence is fully accounted for by the five-factor personality model (p < .001), the extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism dimensions of which are found consistently to predict impulse buying.     

The impact of state affect on job satisfaction

Affective events theory proposes affective experiences at work to cause job satisfaction. Using multiple measurements obtained in a diary study, affective experiences in terms of state positive and state negative affect (PA, NA) were related to state job satisfaction (N = 91). Trait measures were also collected. Results confirmed our hypothesis. First, aggregated state job satisfaction is strongly correlated with trait job satisfaction. Second, the relationship between state affect and state job satisfaction is not spurious: State affect impacts on state job satisfaction even if trait affect and trait job satisfaction are controlled. Third, the effect of state affect on job satisfaction measured by the faces scale is stronger than the effect of state affect on job satisfaction measured by facet scales. It is concluded that not all scales to measure job satisfaction are equally appropriate to investigate affect at work.     

Loneliness of adult and juvenile prisoner influences on psychological affect: Mediation role of control source

Prisoners' affective education is a hot topic in criminal psychology. The lack of the social support for prisoners means that they are more prone to loneliness. The mental health status of the prisoners directly concerns their social adaptation when released. We therefore explored the relationship between loneliness, psychological affect, and control source in 201 prisoners. Prisoners completed the state and trait loneliness scale, the affectal scale, the internal control, powerful others, and chance scale. Mediation effect analysis was conducted to explore the mediation role of the control source from influence of loneliness on psychological affect. State loneliness indirectly affected positive affect through internal control factors. Trait loneliness directly affected negative affect, and trait loneliness indirectly affected negative affect through opportunity factors. Overall, this study uncovers some of the psychological mechanisms underlying emotional state in prisoners, highlights the need for effective psychological correction programmes in the prison system and provides reference for effectual ascension of prisoners out of jail.     

I want to keep on exercising but I don’t: The negative impact of momentary lacks of self-control on exercise adherence

ObjectivesWe investigated the impact of state and trait self-control strength on exercise execution. We hypothesized that state self-control strength is reduced on days that are perceived as stressful and that reductions in self-control strength result in a lower likelihood to work out. Additionally, trait self-control strength may affect the execution of workout plans.DesignUniversity students, who stated that they have not been exercising regularly for at least one month, filled in a trait self-control inventory, a personality questionnaire, and were instructed to perform a daily workout over a one-week period. Perceived stress levels, state self-control strength, and workout completion were assessed on a daily basis.ResultsResults revealed that people were less likely to exercise on days they perceived as stressful. State self-control mediated the relation between stress and exercise completion. Trait self-control and other personality variables did not affect workout completion.ConclusionsResults indicate that daily stress is associated with self-control depletion and a lower likelihood to work out.     

Trait aggression is primarily a facet of antagonism: Evidence from dominance,latent correlational,and item-level analyses

Trait aggression has been studied for decades and yet remains adrift from broader frameworks of personality such as the Five Factor Model. Across two datasets from undergraduate participants (Study 1: N = 359; Study 2; N = 620), we observed strong manifest and latent correlations between trait aggression and lower agreeableness (i.e., greater antagonism). Trait aggression was also linked to greater neuroticism and lower conscientiousness, but their effect sizes fell beneath our preregistered threshold. Subsequent item-level analyses were unable to articulate trait aggression and agreeableness items into separate factors using the IPIP-NEO, but not the Big Five Inventory. Our findings suggest that trait aggression is accurately characterized as primarily a facet of antagonism, while also reflecting other personality dimensions.     

The influence of state and trait affect on HIV risk behaviors: a daily diary study of MSM.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the influence of state and trait affect on HIV risk behaviors. DESIGN: Men who have sex with men (N = 155) completed reports of trait affect and daily reports of affect and sexual behaviors each night for up to 30 days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Analyses focused on the role of state and trait positive activation (PA), negative activation (NA), anxious arousal (AA), and sexual activation (SA) on sexual risk taking, operationalized as having a sex partner, a partner-related risk composite, and an HIV risk behavior composite. RESULTS: State SA was positively associated with having a sex partner and HIV risk behaviors; trait SA was positively associated with partner-related risk. State AA was negatively associated with having a sex partner and positively associated with HIV risk behaviors. Trait AA had a negative association with partner-related risk and moderated the effects of state AA. State PA was negatively associated with HIV risk behaviors, and trait PA had a main effect on having a sex partner. NA had no significant trait or state effects. CONCLUSION: These data suggest a role for multiple affective states in sexual risk taking. Models of HIV risk-taking behaviors should be extended to include affective processes.     

Prediction and Cross-Situational Consistency of Daily Behavior across Cultures: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on the cross-situational consistency of behavior, and the predictive validity of traits, were tested in a daily process study in the United States (N = 68), an individualistic culture, and the Philippines (N = 80), a collectivistic culture. Participants completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a measure of self-monitoring, then reported their daily behaviors and associated situational contexts for approximately 30 days. Consistent with trait perspectives, the Big Five traits predicted daily behaviors in both cultures, and relative (interindividual) consistency was observed across many, although not all, situational contexts. The frequency of various Big Five behaviors varied across relevant situational contexts in both cultures and, consistent with cultural psychology perspectives, there was a tendency for Filipinos to exhibit greater situational variability than Americans. Self-monitoring showed some ability to account for individual differences in situational variability in the American sample, but not the Filipino sample.     

Perfectionistic strivings and concerns are differentially associated with self-rated health beyond negative affect

A growing literature on how perfectionism relates to self-reported physical health has rarely considered the role of negative affect or contextual factors. We addressed this by examining how Perfectionistic Concerns (PC) and Perfectionistic Strivings (PS) were associated with self-rated health across thirteen samples (total N = 4991) before and after controlling for negative affect, and meta-analyzed the effects. PC was associated with poor self-rated health, whereas PS was associated with good self-rated health. The associations were attenuated after adjusting for negative affect, but remained on average significant. The effects for PC were moderated by sample type, perfectionism measure, and sex. Findings suggest that the associations of perfectionism with subjective health are not solely due to biases associated with negative affect.     

State-level impulsivity,affect, and alcohol: A psychometric evaluation of the momentary impulsivity scale across two intensive longitudinal samples

We reexamined the psychometric properties of the Momentary Impulsivity Scale (MIS) in two young adult samples using daily diary (N = 77) and ecological momentary assessment (N = 147). A one-factor between- and within-person structure was supported, though “I felt impatient” loaded poorly within-person. MIS scores consistently related to emotion-driven trait impulsivity; however, MSSDs of MIS scores were unrelated to outcomes after accounting for aggregate MIS scores. We observed positive, within-person correlations with negative, but not positive, affect. Between-person MIS scores correlated with alcohol problems, though within-person MIS-alcohol relations were inconsistent. MIS scores were unrelated to laboratory-based impulsivity tasks. Findings inform the assessment of state-level impulsivity in young adults. Future research should prioritize expanding the MIS to capture the potential multidimensionality of state-level impulsivity.     

The role of perfectionism in daily self-esteem, attachment, and negative affect

This study of university students (64 men, 99 women) examined the role of self-critical (SC) and personal standards (PS) higher order dimensions of perfectionism in daily self-esteem, attachment, and negative affect. Participants completed questionnaires at the end of the day for 7 consecutive days. Trait and situational influences were found in the daily reports of self-esteem, attachment, and affect. In contrast to PS perfectionism, SC perfectionism was strongly related to aggregated daily reports of low self-esteem, attachment fears (fear of closeness, fear of dependency, fear of loss), and negative affect as well as instability indexes of daily self-esteem, attachment, and negative affect. Multilevel modeling indicated that both SC and PS perfectionists were emotionally reactive to decreases in self-esteem, whereas only SC perfectionists were emotionally reactive to increases in fear of closeness with others. These results demonstrate the dispositional and moderating influences of perfectionism dimensions on daily self-esteem, attachment, and negative affect.     

Normative and idiosyncratic measures of positive and negative affect in sport

Objectives: The purposes of the study were to: (a) ascertain the degree of similarity amongst normative and idiosyncratic measures of affect; (b) test the notion of reversal effects on the functional impact and the hedonic tone of emotions; (c) analyse the differences on the intensity of facilitating-positive, facilitating-negative, inhibiting-positive, and inhibiting-negative performance emotion content categories, and (d) test whether competitive trait anxiety intensity could predict pre-performance normative or idiosyncratic negative affect intensity.Design: A cross-sectional study design was employed using normative and idiosyncratic measures of affect.Methods: Experienced male soccer and volleyball players (N =124) were individually assessed. Normative scales were the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) used as a sport-specific trait measure of competitive affect, and the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) administered for the assessment of competitive trait anxiety. Idiosyncratic affect occurring prior to or during optimal and poor competitions was identified in the conceptual framework of the Hanin's Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model (Hanin, Y.L. (1997). Emotions and athletic performance: Individual zones of optimal functioning model. European Yearbook of Sport Psychology, 1, 29–72).Results: Findings revealed low overlap amongst the PANAS items and the idiosyncratic items, reversal effects on the functional impact and the hedonic tone of emotions, higher level of positive affect associated with optimal performance when compared with all other affect categories, and lower levels of facilitating-negative category when compared with the facilitating-positive. Moreover, sport trait anxiety intensity was found to predict negative affect intensity as assessed by the PANAS normative scales and by the idiosyncratic items. For idiosyncratic affect, however, significant differences emerged only when comparing individuals with very high or very low anxiety symptoms.Conclusions: Idiosyncratic affect scales together with normative scales are recommended for research and applied purposes. The functional impact as well as the hedonic tone of emotion items need to be examined according to individual perception.     

Modeling trait and state variation using multilevel factor analysis with PANAS daily diary data

This study used daily diary data to model trait and state Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Data were collected from 364 college students over five days. Intraclass correlation coefficients suggested approximately equal amounts of variability at the trait and state levels. Multilevel factor analysis revealed that the model specifying two correlated factors (PA, NA) and correlated uniqueness terms among redundant items provided the best fit. Trait and state PA and NA were generally associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and three types of self-esteem (performance, academic, social). The coefficients describing these relationships differed somewhat, suggesting that trait and state measurement may have different predictive utility.     

When Good Feelings Turn Mixed: Affective Dynamics and Big Five Trait Predictors of Mixed Emotions in Daily Life

In this study, we examine how daily life fluctuations in positive affect (PA) and negative afect (NA) relate to mixed emotions—that is, simultaneous positive and negative feelings. We utilised three experience sampling studies (total N = 275), in which participants reported their affect 10 times each day for up to 14 days. Because people generally experience fairly stable moderate levels of PA in daily life, we proposed that mixed emotions would typically occur when NA increases and overlaps with, but does not entirely eliminate, PA. Accordingly, within individuals, we found that mixed emotions in daily life were more strongly predicted by changes in NA and the occurrence of negative events than by changes in PA and positive events. At the between-person level, individuals with more variable NA, more stable PA, and higher trait Neuroticism scores experienced higher average levels of mixed emotions. Further, we found evidence that the average magnitude of NA increases may partially mediate the association between Neuroticism and mixed emotions. We also found that positive predictors of mixed emotions are negative predictors of individuals' within-person PA/NA correlations—that is, affective synchrony. Our findings elucidate trait predictors and affective dynamics of daily life mixed emotions, which appear closely intertwined with NA variability. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Dispositional optimism as a buffer against emotional reactivity to daily stressors: A daily diary approach

The current research examined if dispositional optimism buffers against the negative influences of daily stressors on affective experiences, using a daily diary study of two large and nationally-drawn samples of American adults (N = 2,349). Optimism, exposure to daily stressors, and daily positive and negative affect were assessed over eight days. Multilevel modelling revealed that optimism significantly attenuated the associations between daily stressor exposure and negative affect reactivity even after controlling for demographic factors, subjective physical health, and socioeconomic status. However, in a similar analysis, the inclusion of socioeconomic variables fully accounted for the moderating effect of optimism on stress and positive affect reactivity. The findings suggest distinct processes that are involved in how optimism reduces daily stress reactivity.