Unique Associations Between Affect Dynamics and Internalizing and Externalizing Subfactors: Disentangling Affective Home Base and Variability

BackgroundAffect dynamics are consistently linked to internalizing disorders, namely, depression and anxiety. Few studies have explored relationships with externalizing disorders, and none have distinguished between internalizing subfactors (e.g., fear, distress). Additionally, there is concern that some metrics are artificially confounded, specifically, negative affective home base and variability. The current study explored associations between commonly studied affect dynamics (home base, variability, inertia) and psychopathology symptoms spanning internalizing and externalizing subfactors. A novel method of representing affective home base (the mode) was compared to the traditional approach (the mean).MethodsA community sample of 18-year-olds (N = 340) completed baseline measures of psychopathology symptoms and 2 weeks of EMA assessing affect 5x per day.ResultsNegative affective home base captured with the mode was much less confounded with variability than the traditional approach using the mean. The mode showed a similar degree of association with psychopathology variables. Internalizing distress was uniquely associated with a lower positive affect home base, higher negative affect home base, and greater variability of negative emotions, while fear was not uniquely associated with any dynamics. Alcohol use problems were uniquely associated with greater variability of both valences, while aggression was uniquely associated with less inert positive affect.ConclusionsDifferent psychopathology dimensions appear to be characterized by distinct problems in emotional functioning. The mode may be a better approximation of affective home base than the mean, representing an individual’s typical emotional state in a way that is distinct from their emotional range.