Negative affective responsivity to daily stressors in young adults: The influence of depressive symptom severity

Evidence suggests that adults with major depressive disorder appraise daily stressor events as more severe and report stronger stressor-related negative emotions than non-depressed adults. Despite the growing number of young adults (~18-25 yrs) experiencing depressive symptoms in the absence of a formal clinical diagnosis, limited studies have examined whether current depressive symptom severity influences affective responsivity to daily stressors in young men and women. We tested the hypotheses that greater depressive symptom severity would be related to greater negative stressor appraisal characteristics and greater affective responsivity to daily stressors but not to stressor exposure frequency. We further hypothesized that the relations between depressive symptom severity and daily stress processes would be sensitized in young females compared to males.

Depressive symptom severity (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) and daily stress processes (8-day daily dairy) were assessed in 235 young adults (18-30 yrs.; 166 females).

Greater depressive symptom severity was related to greater likelihood of daily stressor exposure, intensity of feelings of anger and shame following a stressor event, and negative and positive affective responsivity to daily stressors. Self-reported biological sex moderated the association between depressive symptom severity and positive (but not negative) affective responsivity to daily stressors.

Causality cannot be established from this daily diary study design.

These data demonstrate that daily stressors are more pervasively reported and worsen negative affect to a greater extent in young adults currently experiencing more severe symptoms of depression, which may contribute to an increased risk of developing future chronic disease.