Daily dynamics between motives and strategies in interpersonal affect worsening

Interpersonal affect worsening involves intentionally making others feel bad and can stem from varied motives, including counterhedonic (to purely harm emotionally) and altruistic (to benefit others without personal gain) reasons. While prior research has examined these motives, their interplay with specific strategies remains underexplored. This study used ecological momentary assessment to investigate the links between motives (altruistic and counterhedonic) and strategies (negative engagement and rejection) in a sample of 228 participants across 21 ecological momentary assessments (three times a day over 7 days). Results revealed significant within-person associations: Higher levels than usual of altruistic motives positively predicted higher levels than usual in the use of negative engagement strategies, while counterhedonic motives positively predicted rejection strategies at the same time. The same pattern was true from strategies to motives. However, no evidence was found for spillover effects across time from motives to strategies. Nevertheless, the use of both rejection and negative engagement strategies at a previous time positively predicted higher counterhedonic motives at a later time. Similar links were also observed at the between-person level, suggesting specific alignments between motives and strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).