Life Events as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes

Life Events as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Life Events as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes Koustuv Saha, Dong Whi Yoo, Vedant Das Swain, Munmun De Choudhury This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6558191/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Life events are noteworthy events that punctuate our lives and shape our experiences; their impact on mental health is complex and not fully understood.This paper examines the effects of life event occurrences on the mental health outcomes of 493 participants in a year-long longitudinal study responding to daily surveys of mental health outcomes. Regression models revealed the relationship between individual differences, life event attributes, and mental health outcomes. We found that health-related life events are linked to worsened negative affect and stress, as well as poorer sleep quality.Anticipation of events, while associated with greater positive affect and lower negative affect, is also associated with poorer sleep.Similarly, event valence showed a positive relationship with positive affect and a negative relationship with negative affect, stress, and anxiety.Event intimacy, however, is negatively associated with positive affect, whereas events that span across a time period are positively linked to both positive and negative affect, as well as higher stress and anxiety.Interestingly, sharing life events on Facebook is likely to have a positive impact on wellbeing---associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect, stress, and anxiety---though it is also linked to poorer sleep.These findings provide valuable insights into the intricate relationship between life events and mental health, highlighting how event attributes---such as type, anticipation, valence, continuity, scope, intimacy, and online disclosure---shape affect, stress, anxiety, and sleep quality.Our work contributes a systemic understanding of the interplay between life events and psychophysiological responses, paving the way for more effective mental health interventions. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Computational science Health sciences/Health care life events psychological traits mental health wellbeing self-disclosure social media Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 21 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 19 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 11 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Jun, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 30 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 30 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 29 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6558191","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":450524977,"identity":"90b268bc-8081-4d18-85a3-88a950c78d71","order_by":0,"name":"Koustuv Saha","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCQYGNgaGChsePnbGBgYGA5BYAjFazqTxsDGTpIWx7TADGzNcjIAWyf7Dzx78YDsvw8bM3PbgQ0EdAz97jgFeLdISaeaGPTy3QQ5rN5xhcJhBsucNfi1yEgxmEjwSYC1t0jwGBxgMbhCwRY7/+DfJPwbnYFrqGOwJaZFmyDGT5kk4ANPCzGAgQUCL5IycMmmZA8lgLZJAv/BInHlWgFeLxPnj2yTf/rOz52dvfybx4U+dHH978ga8WjAAD2nKR8EoGAWjYBRgBQBWLTf//5UTXwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Koustuv","middleName":"","lastName":"Saha","suffix":""},{"id":450524978,"identity":"d86c7e51-321c-4671-a752-bcd8af5213ce","order_by":1,"name":"Dong Whi Yoo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kent State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dong","middleName":"Whi","lastName":"Yoo","suffix":""},{"id":450524979,"identity":"da80233d-8157-46fd-9e6c-f9c1fb6806ed","order_by":2,"name":"Vedant Das Swain","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northeastern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vedant","middleName":"Das","lastName":"Swain","suffix":""},{"id":450524980,"identity":"300c1263-6375-4f55-b8a0-0ee3d6433575","order_by":3,"name":"Munmun De Choudhury","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Georgia Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Munmun","middleName":"","lastName":"De Choudhury","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-29 16:08:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6558191/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6558191/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":81993707,"identity":"a33dbdba-d42a-4d73-bf86-d1b3b74caac0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-05 17:16:38","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":268301,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"LifeEventsMentalHealthV3.0Nature5.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6558191/v1_covered_4652638d-1086-43c0-a63b-a51af6df53a2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Life Events as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npj-digital-public-health","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [npj Digital Public Health](https://www.nature.com/npjdigipubhealth/)","snPcode":"44482","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/44482/3?","title":"npj Digital Public Health","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"NPJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"life events, psychological traits, mental health, wellbeing, self-disclosure, social media","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6558191/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6558191/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Life events are noteworthy events that punctuate our lives and shape our experiences; their impact on mental health is complex and not fully understood.This paper examines the effects of life event occurrences on the mental health outcomes of 493 participants in a year-long longitudinal study responding to daily surveys of mental health outcomes. 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