The mood brightening effect of leisure activities and social company in young people with depression and anhedonia symptoms: An ecological momentary assessment study
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Depressed individuals are less reactive than controls to positive stimuli in the laboratory, yet mood brightening (MB) is when positive stimuli increase positive affect (PA) and/or decreases negative affect (NA) more in those with depression compared to controls, in real life. Leisure activities and social company may drive mood brightening in depression, but their impact on anhedonia remains unclear, clarifying this could inform intervention development. METHODS: Participants (N = 71, mean 20 yrs) with a range of depression and anhedonia symptoms provided 6 days Ecological Momentary Assessments about leisure activities, social company, NA and PA. From the 2177 assessments, we measured affective reactivity as the difference between PA and NA at the time of the activity/social company compared to two baselines: the within-subject mean and the previous assessment (t-1; lag-1 fluctuation). Longitudinal multilevel linear regression models examined the interaction between symptoms and affect reactivity to leisure and to social company. RESULTS: Those with higher depression (p < .05) and anhedonia symptoms (p < .025) had greater reductions in NA during leisure activity and that those with higher depression symptoms (p < .05) had greater reductions in NA during social company. These findings indicate MB effects of leisure activity and social company. CONCLUSIONS: Although MB has been documented in depression this is the first study to examine a MB effect in anhedonia symptoms. We provide real-time mechanistic evidence that encouraging individuals with depression and anhedonia symptoms to engage in leisure activities and seek out enjoyable social company could elevate their mood via a reduction in NA.
Source: Journal of Affective Disorders
Authors: Angad Sahni, Ciara McCabe
Institution: University of Reading
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,790
Funder: University of Reading
OpenAlex ID: W7116711173