The relation between thinking and mood in daily life: The effects of content and context of thought

The association between thought content and mood in daily life is far from established. The aim of the present investigation was to examine the role of content and context of thought in daily life mood (i) concurrent and across time, and (ii) as simple effects and as interactions between them. Participants were 50 university students (82% female), who completed experience sampling assessments for a week. Linear mixed-effects models showed that time and object aspects of thought were significantly associated with concurrent mood. In addition, interaction effects between object of thought and thought context (activity) significantly predicted concurrent, but not future, mood, sometimes showing a switch from a positive to a negative association in certain contexts. It is concluded that associations between thought content and mood in daily life (i) are depending on the activity context, and (ii) seem to be relatively short-lived in most cases.