Social dynamics and affect: Investigating within-person associations in daily life using experience sampling and mobile sensing

Abstract

Social interactions are crucial to affective well-being. Still, people vary interindividually and intraindividually in their social needs. Social need regulation theories state that mismatches between momentary social desire and actual social contact result in lowered affect, yet empirical knowledge about this dynamic regulation is limited. 306 participants in a sample stratified by age and gender (51% women, M_age = 39.41, range 18-80 years) answered up to 20 questionnaires about social interactions and affect while mobile sensing tracked their conversations, calls, and app usage over two days. Combining preregistered and exploratory analyses, we investigated how momentary affect relates to social dynamics, focusing on two states of mismatch between social desire and social contact: social deprivation (i.e., being alone but desiring social contact) and social oversatiation (i.e., being in contact but desiring to be alone). We used specification curve analyses to scrutinize the operationalization of these constructs. Social oversatiation was associated with decreased positive affect (PA) and increased negative affect (NA). Social deprivation, however, was unrelated to affect. Exploratory multilevel models showed that a higher desire to be alone was consistently associated with decreased affect, whereas a higher desire for social contact was related to increased affect. Mobile sensing data revealed that having more conversations was related to higher PA even when controlling for momentary social desire. Using communication apps more frequently when alone was related to higher NA. We discuss implications for social need regulation, related studies on voluntary solitude, and the advantages of combining experience sampling and mobile sensing assessments.

Mobile Sensing Methods

“…For example, daSilva et al ( 2021) used microphone logs to estimate conversation times and found that selfreported stress was associated with reduced social interaction the next day; however, conversation times on a given day did not predict stress levels on the following day. Krämer et al, (2023) provided another example for how this powerful combination of methods can be used.…”

“…They investigated social dynamics in relation to momentary affect. Their mobile sensing results pointed to the importance of face-to-face conversations in daily life: While a higher frequency in communication app use was associated with higher negative affect when alone, self-reported levels of positive affect at a moment when individuals were in social contact or alone were higher when they had more in-person conversations (detected via microphone logs) in the preceding situations (Krämer et al, 2023).…”

Bidirectional Associations Between Smartphone Usage and Momentary Well-Being in Young Adults: Tackling Methodological Challenges by Combining Experience Sampling Methods with Passive Smartphone Data

“…In the context of this study, within-person effects would reflect how an individual's smartphone usage and momentary well-being fluctuate within the same person, while between-person effects would reflect how individuals differ in their average smartphone usage and momentary well-being across the whole study period (Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013). Examining within-person effects, in which we compare measures to how the same participant usually behaves, can help us to better understand the underlying micro-level processes of the relationship between smartphone usage and momentary well-being (Krämer et al, 2023;Lin & Lachman, 2021). The few studies that investigate the association between smartphone usage and momentary well-being on a within-person level show mixed evidence for the presence of such effects ( Große Deters & Schoedel, 2023;Krämer et al, 2023;Lin & Lachman, 2021;Marciano et al, 2022).…”

“…Examining within-person effects, in which we compare measures to how the same participant usually behaves, can help us to better understand the underlying micro-level processes of the relationship between smartphone usage and momentary well-being (Krämer et al, 2023;Lin & Lachman, 2021). The few studies that investigate the association between smartphone usage and momentary well-being on a within-person level show mixed evidence for the presence of such effects ( Große Deters & Schoedel, 2023;Krämer et al, 2023;Lin & Lachman, 2021;Marciano et al, 2022).…”

“…While there has been much scholarly debate about the positive and negative psychological effects of frequent smartphone usage (Orben & Przybylski, 2019;Twenge et al, 2020), it remains unclear to what extent the time spent on the smartphone is predictive of (decreased) well-being given the current state of mixed findings (i.e., some studies report negative effects while others show no effect; Große Deters & Schoedel, 2023;Krämer et al, 2023;Lin & Lachman, 2021;Marciano et al, 2022;Orben, 2020). Much of this debate has been focused on four method-related aspects that require further attention in the process of understanding how smartphone usage affects well-being (also see Bradley & Howard, 2023;Krämer et al, 2023;Kushlev, 2020;Parry et al, 2022): (a) How to measure smartphone usage, (b) how to measure immediate changes in well-being, (c) the directionality of effects, and (d) what people are doing when they are using the smartphone.…”