Group, Subgroup and Person-Specific Longitudinal Associations Between Physical Activity and Affect in Individuals...

Associations between physical activity and affect (activity-affect dynamics) vary among individuals for which reasons remain unclear. We examined whether such heterogeneity is explained by psychiatric status or sociodemographic, clinical, and ambulatory assessment characteristics.

Two-week ambulatory assessment data of 300 participants with current (n = 79), subthreshold (n = 67), and no (n = 154) depressive and/or anxiety disorders or symptoms were obtained from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Positive and negative affect (PA/NA) were assessed with ecological momentary assessment (5xdaily) and physical activity using actigraphy. Group iterative multiple model estimation was used to model associations shared across the sample, psychiatric subgroups, and those specific to individuals.

No activity-affect associations were shared across the sample (i.e., present in > 75% of all individuals) or psychiatric subgroups (i.e., present in > 51% of individuals within subgroups). Nevertheless, 45% of participants had at least one activity-affect association, with considerable heterogeneity in their nature. The most frequent association was a positive contemporaneous association between physical activity and PA (present in 25% of the sample).

These findings suggest large heterogeneity in activity-affect dynamics among individuals and underscore the importance of considering the unique dynamics of the individual.