Daily reports of symptoms and negative affect: Not all symptoms are the same

Abstract

The interplay between state negative affect (SNA) and somatic symptoms is well-established in daily life, but the nature of the association is unclear. Questions remain regarding the role, if any, that SNA plays apart from trait negative affect (TNA), the direction of the association, and whether the relationship with SNA varies according to symptom type. Associations between three constellations of somatic symptoms and SNA were examined in adults (N ¼ 781) queried on eight consecutive evenings. Inter-and intra-individual variation in temporal and concurrent associations were examined, with models including both state and trait negative affect. All symptoms were related to concurrent measures of SNA. Lagged associations varied by symptom type. No lagged analyses including respiratory symptoms were significant. Prior pain symptoms predicted SNA, and prior SNA predicted pain and gastrointestinal symptoms. TNA, however, mediated the association between prior pain symptoms and SNA.

Health is health is health? Age differences in intraindividual variability and in within-person versus between-person factor structures of self-reported health complaints.

“…Within-person associations between health, stress, and wellbeing have increasingly come under scrutiny (for an overview, see Affleck, Tennen, Urrows, & Higgins, 1994;Charles & Almeida, 2006;Ong & Allaire, 2005). Typically, summary scores of different health items are used to characterize an individual's subjective health.…”

Bummed Out Now, Feeling Sick Later: Weekday versus Weekend Negative Affect and Physical Symptom Reports in High School Freshmen

“…Total symptoms in each of four categories were generated: pain, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and immune (Table 1). These constellations were chosen to represent overt symptoms, easily observable as illness-related (immune and respiratory symptoms), and symptoms that are less observable (pain and gastrointestinal) [7].…”

“…Based on previous research, we hypothesized that NA on school days and weekend days would be associated interactively, as adolescents reporting higher levels of NA during both time periods are likely higher in trait NA. In addition, given the relationship in adults between state NA and covert (but not overt) symptoms documented by Charles and Almeida [7] we predicted that the association between diary NA and physical symptoms would be stronger for covert physical symptoms (e.g., pain and gastrointestinal symptoms) compared to overt, easily observable symptoms (e.g., respiratory and immune problems).…”

“…Charles and Almeida [7] investigated adult reports of NA in association with three constellations of physical symptoms: pain, gastrointestinal illness, and respiratory/flu symptoms. The authors defined trait NA as the average of state NA scores within-person across an 8-day daily diary.…”

Assessing mood in older adults: a conceptual review of methods and approaches

“…However, non-clinical patterns of mood state, that is everyday mood in the general population, also have important associations with health and well-being. For instance, mood states in healthy adult populations have been associated with biological indicators of health such as blood pressure and cortisol levels (Steptoe and Wardle, 2005) and somatic symptoms such as poor appetite and stomach upsets (Charles and Almeida, 2006), as well as health-related behaviors such as exercise (Powell et al, 2009) eating habits (Konttinen et al, 2010), and patterns of cognitive ability (Hill et al, 2005). Mood states also color and shape our subjective mental experiences and fundamentally contribute to levels of happiness (Diener, 2000) and quality of life (Kelley-Gillespie, 2009).…”