Daily positive and negative affect during the COVID-19 pandemic

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted global emotional well-being.
• Understanding emotional shifts and their correlates is crucial for public health.
• Daily affect monitoring provides insights into population-level psychological responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine changes in daily positive and negative affect in the US from May 2020 to February 2021.
• To identify demographic, stressor, and behavioral factors associated with daily affect.
• To explore the bidirectional relationship between affect and preventive behaviors during the pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a large-scale, national mobile application-based survey with daily affect reports.
• Sample included 151,049 participants, yielding 3,509,982 daily observations.
• Statistical analyses examined temporal trends, demographic associations, stressor impacts, and affect-behavior relationships.

Main Results:

• A significant increase in positive affect and decrease in negative affect was observed over the study period.
• Demographic patterns in affect mirrored pre-pandemic trends, with younger individuals reporting more negative affect.
• Stressors like illness, COVID-19 symptoms, exposure, and poor sleep were linked to lower positive and higher negative affect.
• Affect demonstrated a bidirectional relationship with preventive behaviors, influencing and being influenced by actions like mask-wearing and social distancing.

Conclusions:

• Despite pandemic-related stressors, overall affect improved over time in the US.
• Individual differences in affect persisted, highlighting vulnerable subgroups.
• The interplay between affect and behavior underscores the need for nuanced public health communication strategies.
• Findings inform interventions aimed at promoting emotional resilience and adherence to public health guidelines.