Low-Burden Digital Phenotyping of Affective Risk: Positive Emoji Usage, Speech Rate, and Sleep Relate to College Student Mental Health

Low-Burden Digital Phenotyping of Affective Risk: Positive Emoji Usage, Speech Rate, and Sleep Relate to College Student Mental Health | 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 Research Article Low-Burden Digital Phenotyping of Affective Risk: Positive Emoji Usage, Speech Rate, and Sleep Relate to College Student Mental Health Robert Henry, Karishma Singh, Grace Mooney Anderson, Luke Goldammer, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9226835/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Mental health problems tied to negative affective experiences are common among emerging adults, yet conventional symptom questionnaires provide only distal snapshots of dynamic affective processes that unfold in daily life. Using the novel Meet Pandora smartphone application, we examined how everyday affective experiences and passive markers relate to depressive symptoms (PHQ), anxiety symptoms (GAD), and psychological flourishing in college students ( N = 120; N observations (PHQ/GAD) = 372, N observations (flourishing) = 792). We tested three data channels (self-report, voice-derived features, and behavioral indicators) and disaggregated within-person fluctuations from between-person differences using multilevel models. Across outcomes, the proportion of positive emojis selected to reflect one’s affective state emerged as the most consistent signal. On days when participants used a higher-than-usual proportion of positive emojis, they reported lower depression and anxiety, and individuals with higher average positive emoji use reported lower symptoms and higher flourishing. Positive emoji use also moderated change over time in flourishing, such that flourishing increased across the study period only among participants with relatively high positive emoji proportions. In contrast, passive features showed more selective associations. Speech rate (words per minute) was linked to lower symptom burden and higher flourishing in some models, and longer average sleep duration was associated with lower anxiety and higher flourishing. Overall, results highlight the value of separating within- from between-person effects when linking digital markers to mental health and suggest that low-burden indicators of positive affect may be especially informative for scalable temporal monitoring of affective risk and wellbeing in young adults. mental health young adulthood depression anxiety digital markers Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. T.M. is the founder of Pandora Bio, Inc and holds private stock options in the company. S.B. and J.J. also hold stock options in Pandora Bio, Inc. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 17 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 08 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 07 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 25 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 25 Mar, 2026 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. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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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-9226835","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":621176767,"identity":"1c37552f-a9e2-4fe3-8951-89879c625e55","order_by":0,"name":"Robert Henry","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHjCZACY/ILEJaEmAKGOcQbIWZmQbcQLz9t6Djyt/MOTxS/c+k7apOMzAz55jgFeLzJlzyYZnEhiKJeccN5POOXOYQbLnDX4tEhI5ZpINCf8TN9xIY5PObTvMYHCDgC1ALeY/GxIYEveDtFgCtdgTocWMEaRlgwRQCyPIFglCWnjOJUs2pDEkzriRxmzZcyadR+LMswL8Wth7D35ssGFI7J+RxnjjR4W1HH978ga8WpABiwQDLDEQC5g/kKR8FIyCUTAKRgwAACTuQJ1dmJD6AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Robert","middleName":"","lastName":"Henry","suffix":""},{"id":621176768,"identity":"9059c17f-b746-4688-84eb-9e959d79a920","order_by":1,"name":"Karishma Singh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Rochester","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Karishma","middleName":"","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""},{"id":621176769,"identity":"37f967ff-21ec-45e6-b48b-d7e12928df94","order_by":2,"name":"Grace Mooney Anderson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Grace","middleName":"Mooney","lastName":"Anderson","suffix":""},{"id":621176770,"identity":"c84abb40-4673-46b0-a8d0-0a2b4e8aa33a","order_by":3,"name":"Luke Goldammer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luke","middleName":"","lastName":"Goldammer","suffix":""},{"id":621176771,"identity":"0a1ccf2c-a256-49b5-a359-db77b242c3df","order_by":4,"name":"Anya Kapitula","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anya","middleName":"","lastName":"Kapitula","suffix":""},{"id":621176772,"identity":"920e8c32-d2fc-4884-a3c9-b8609a7cd058","order_by":5,"name":"Cassie Morse","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cassie","middleName":"","lastName":"Morse","suffix":""},{"id":621176773,"identity":"7de3ff54-596d-493c-a8af-ef0191746c64","order_by":6,"name":"Jacqueline Rivera","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jacqueline","middleName":"","lastName":"Rivera","suffix":""},{"id":621176774,"identity":"8a51ff8c-d232-472a-b7b6-52286881c204","order_by":7,"name":"Violet Wasilevich","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hope College","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Violet","middleName":"","lastName":"Wasilevich","suffix":""},{"id":621176775,"identity":"4bb56a3a-4885-475a-9141-7622a510df65","order_by":8,"name":"Shreeya Behera","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northwestern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shreeya","middleName":"","lastName":"Behera","suffix":""},{"id":621176776,"identity":"92ff9f48-3ba0-4c42-888b-136443e7bc63","order_by":9,"name":"York Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"York","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":621176777,"identity":"f17fd771-3339-4fd4-91eb-176101fb5140","order_by":10,"name":"Jeremy Jamieson","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Rochester","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jeremy","middleName":"","lastName":"Jamieson","suffix":""},{"id":621176778,"identity":"9e3ae11d-a0aa-4700-b03a-c2e5691a4f07","order_by":11,"name":"Tara Maddala","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Pandora Bio Inc","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tara","middleName":"","lastName":"Maddala","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-25 20:08:47","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9226835/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9226835/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107704897,"identity":"ea658c1e-111e-4891-8755-e5f96955e06b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:03:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":583669,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PandoraBiofullmsfinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9226835/v1_covered_1fd8b821-5fde-4c01-8046-aea4415186cc.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"Competing interest reported. 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