(PS2-C62) An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Daily Worry and Rumination as Predictors of Positive Affect

Rumination has generally been thought of as a process that works to maintain negative affect in depression; however, it is also possible that by taxing working memory, rumination may interfere with one’s ability to learn from rewarding cues in the environment, and thus also preclude the ability to experience positive affect (i.e., anhedonia).

Worry is the hallmark symptom of generalized anxiety disorder and has been often studied in relation to negative affect (e.g., Kim & Newman, 2022; Iqbal & Dar, 2015). However, as a process of repetitive negative thought, which similarly taxes working memory and executive functioning, worry may also be implicated in reinforcement learning deficits and therefore the maintenance of anxiety. Research, however, is lacking in understanding whether and how deficits in positive affect relate to worry (and thus, anxiety).

In the current study, we used ecological momentary assessment methods to identify how state reports of worry and rumination relate to daily experiences of two components of pleasure (anticipatory vs. consummatory). One-hundred and twenty adult participants completed a battery of baseline perseverative cognition measures (e.g., Ruminative Response Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire) and then completed 6 surveys per day for 14 days, assessing levels of worry and rumination, state affect, and their rated anticipatory pleasure for future events and consummatory pleasure for events that had occurred since the last survey.

Hierarchical linear modeling results demonstrated that both state-level ratings of worry and rumination were significant negative predictors of both state-level anticipatory and consummatory pleasure. State worry and rumination remained predictors of anticipatory and consummatory pleasure even when controlling for state changes in reported anxiousness and sadness. Importantly, trait measures of rumination and worry (RRS and PSWQ, respectively) did not predict any differences in anticipatory or consummatory pleasure.

Our results therefore suggest: 1) Worry is a significant predictor of positive affect and that anxiety research must further interrogate the association between anxiety and anhedonia. 2) Cross-sectional, trait-like measures of cognitive symptoms (e.g., rumination and worry) may fail to capture important differences in processes that occur throughout participants’ daily lives. EMA research is vital for the understanding of the mechanism by which complex symptoms, such as anhedonia, unfold in anxiety and depression. Further research may help elucidate direct targets for treatment (e.g., targeting worry and rumination immediately prior to and during the engagement in pleasure-inducing activities, such as behavioral activation).