Every dark cloud has a colored lining: The relation between positive and negative affect and reactivity to positive and negative events

This dissertation focused on two topics: (1) the relation between positive and negative affect, and (2) the relation between neuroticism, extraversion and depressive symptoms on the one hand, and affective reactivity to positive and negative events on the other hand. These topics were investigated using the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), in which more than 2000 adolescents were followed from age 11 to age 23. In addition, we used two studies in which early adolescents and students were asked about experienced events and affect 5 to 9 times a day in their daily life. We found that depressed mood and anhedonia (lack of pleasure) predicted each other across time. High scores on neuroticism or depressive symptoms and low scores on extraversion were not associated with decreased positive affect reactivity to positive events at the same moment, nor with decreased reactivity at a subsequent time point. We found tentative evidence that the effects of positive events on positive affect were slightly larger for individuals higher in depressive symptoms. These results concern minor events in daily life. Major positive events have the potential to exert a beneficial effect on mood, yet only when the total amount of events is limited