Background: The tripartite model (Clark & Watson, 1991) has been used to represent the substrates of general distress in both depression and anxiety (Negative affectivity [NA]), while also characterizing specific features of decreased positive affectivity (PA) in depression and increased physiological hyperarousal (PH) in anxiety. Core affect characterizes affect by two dimensions: valence, which ranges from unpleasant to neutral to pleasant, and arousal, which ranges from deactivation to activation. Research has shown how an individual’s immediate valence and arousal responses to emotional stimuli (termed affective reactivity) may be a substrate of psychopathology with suppressed valence and arousal to pleasant stimuli in depression and increased valence and arousal to unpleasant stimuli in anxiety (Bylsma, Morris, & Rottenberg, 2008; Lang & McTeague, 2009). This study compared levels of constructs of the tripartite model and affective reactivity to varied stimuli (words, pictures, sounds) in adults with and without depression and anxiety relative to healthy adults. Methods: The sample included depressed (n = 45), anxious (n = 51), comorbid (n = 43), and healthy adults (n = 44) who were recruited via online and paper advertisements from the community. In addition to other self-report measures, participants filled out the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ, Clark & Watson, 1991) to measure constructs of the tripartite model and completed behavioral computerized tasks to measure constructs of affective reactivity. Results: Mixed-design Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) were conducted. Group differences were found on constructs of the tripartite model. Unpleasant and pleasant stimuli were rated significantly more negatively and less arousing compared to healthy controls. Pictures were rated significantly more negatively than words and sounds. Conclusions: Results support the tripartite model indicating that depression is characterized by lower levels of PA; however, this is not reflected in the affective reactivity findings. Rather, results suggested a transdiagnostic effect that neutral stimuli may evoke a more intense arousal reaction in depression and anxiety compared to healthy controls despite being seen as similarly neutral in terms of valence. In particular, this occurs more specifically for visual and auditory forms of neutral stimuli (e.g., pictures and sounds) rather than words.

Last modified

• 04/19/2018

Creator

• Laina Emily Rosebrock

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/N2TH7S

Subject

• Clinical Psychology

Keyword

• affective reactivity
• tripartite model
• comorbidity
• depression
• anxiety

Date created

• 2015-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright