Background Despite interest in transdiagnostic dimensional approaches to psychopathology, little is known about the dynamic interplay of affecting and internalizing symptoms that cut across diverse mental health disorders. We examined within‐person reciprocal effects of negative and positive affect (NA, PA) and symptoms (depression and anxiety), and their between‐person associations with affective dynamics (i.e., affect inertia). Methods Individuals currently receiving treatment for psychological disorders (N = 776) completed daily assessments of affect and symptoms across 14 treatment days (average). We used dynamic structural equation modeling to examine daily affect–symptom dynamics. Results Within‐person results indicated NA–symptom reciprocal effects; PA only predicted subsequent depression symptoms. After accounting for changes in mean symptoms and affect over time, NA‐anxiety and PA‐depression relations remained particularly robust. Between‐person correlations indicated NA inertia was positively associated with NA–symptom effects; PA inertia was negatively associated with PA–symptoms effects. Conclusions Results suggest that transdiagnostic affective treatment approaches may be more useful for reducing internalizing symptoms by decreasing NA compared to increasing PA. Individual differences in resistance to shifting out of affective states (i.e., high NA vs. PA inertia) may be a useful marker for developing tailored interventions.

Perceived parental criticism is an important measure of the family emotional environment, linked to a variety of psychological difficulties in emerging adults (EAs) and traditionally assessed at a single timepoint. Our study is the first to examine perceived parental criticism as a dynamic construct that fluctuates and interacts with emerging adult (EA) affect across daily life. EAs (N = 141; ages 18–22; Mage = 19.94, 84.5% women) completed a measure of baseline depression symptoms and daily assessments of perceived parental criticism, anger, anxiety, shame, sadness, and happiness across 30 days. Within-person results revealed that previous day perceived parental criticism predicted subsequent day EA anger (but not vice versa). This cross-lagged association only emerged for anger and not other emotions. Additionally, depression moderated this association, with higher depression symptoms increasing the strength of the association. Between-person results revealed that parental criticism was positively associated with mean/trait anger, anxiety, shame, sadness, but not happiness, as well as affect reactivity (innovation variance) for anger. Associations with affect inertia were not significant. Together, these findings suggest parental criticism is more strongly related to negative than positive emotions, is proximally associated with anger in particular, especially among EAs with increased depression, and may be related to aspects of emotion dysregulation. Family interventions aiming to target negative emotionality in EAs should focus on mitigating criticism or educating parents on the importance of considering psychological health such as depression symptomology when providing critical feedback to minimize heightened negative affect or decrease the likelihood of emotional dysfunction in EAs.

Latent profile analysis was used to establish profiles of emerging adult development and then test associations with drinking behaviors both concurrently and prospectively. To differentiate between different patterns of emerging adult drinking, 153 regular drinkers from the community (ages 18-24 years; M = 20.9, SD = 1.9) completed the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) and measures of alcohol use, motives and consequences. The EA-Consistent (90%) profile had elevated scores on the five typical IDEA subscales; the Non-Exploring EA profile (10%) had low scores on four dimensions. The Non-Exploring EA profile consumed significantly less alcohol, experienced fewer alcohol consequences, and had lower social and enhancement motives at baseline and lower scores on drinking volume, alcohol consequences, and social motives at the one-year follow-up. The findings provide support that emerging adult development profiles reflect different patterns of alcohol use and differentiate between those with lower-vs. higher-risk alcohol use.