Learning it the hard way – how enjoying life and positive appraisal buffer the negative effects of stressors on mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background. Higher levels of stress and negative emotions such as anxiety and depression have been reported since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains less clear how positive emotions, such as hedonic capacity, may be affected. Further, during lockdowns, the ability to learn new pleasurable activities (hedonic learning) may be particularly relevant. Here, we investigated if state hedonia and/or hedonic learning mediated the relationship between COVID-19 stress and mental health. Moreover, we explored whether positive appraisal style (PAS), a major resilience factor, influenced these relationships.Methods. Using a cross-sectional design, 5000 German-speaking participants filled out online questionnaires targeting stressors, mental health, state hedonia, hedonic learning, and PAS between April 9 and May 15, 2020. After confirming the factor structure of our constructs, we applied latent structural equation modeling to test mediation as well as moderated mediation models.Results. Stress showed a positive association with mental health symptoms, which was buffered by both state hedonia and hedonic learning. While higher stress was related to lower state hedonia, participants reported more hedonic learning with greater stressor load. The latter effect was greater for individuals with high PAS.Limitations. The present results should be replicated in longitudinal designs with representative samples to confirm the directionality and generalizability of effects.Conclusions. Both state hedonia and hedonic learning buffered the effect of stress on mental health in an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning new rewarding activities in combination with a PAS may be especially relevant for maintaining mental health during lockdowns.

Kognitive Neurowissenschaft des Positiven

“…So erwies sich vor allem der neurobiologisch beim Menschen praktisch noch gar nicht untersuchte Belohnungstyp „Hobbys“ im Selbstbericht als prädiktiv für Psychopathologie, während etwa in der Bildgebung überwiegend mit dem sehr gut skalierbaren und leicht einsetzbaren sekundären Verstärker kleiner Geldmengen gearbeitet wird. Auch folgt die PVSS-21 dem RDoC-Ansatz darin, Belohnungslernen aus dem Selbstbericht komplett auszuschließen, obwohl dem Lernen aber möglicherweise gerade in Krisenzeiten wie der gegenwärtigen COVID-19(„corona virus disease 2019“)-Pandemie eine wichtige Rolle bei der Stressbewältigung zukommt [ 9 ]. Und letztlich sei auch hier noch einmal darauf hingewiesen, dass im PVSS-21 wie bei fast allen anderen Fragebögen zur Belohnung (und zu Persönlichkeitseigenschaften) der biologisch und psychologisch so wichtige primäre Verstärker und Belohnungstyp Sexualität nicht berücksichtigt bzw.…”