(PS5-97) Associations Between Idiographic Network Density and Self-reported Well-being

Abstract Text:

Background: Greater understanding of transdiagnostic internalizing symptoms is imperative to improve treatments for anxiety and depression. One symptom is emotion flexibility, the ability to adapt to internal and external environmental changes. Network density, a metric ascertained through symptom network analysis, captures how strongly symptoms influence each other, and is thought to represent emotion flexibility. When causal relations among symptoms are strong, the activation of one symptom can lead to increases in other symptoms, suggesting that a more inter-connected (dense) network is more vulnerable to a “contagion effect”, and thus indicative of less emotional flexibility and more severe psychopathology. While extant research supports the idea that idiographic network density of negative emotions and, in the case of one study, positive emotions, are associated with psychopathology, current literature is limited to studies using categorical self-report outcomes and primarily focuses on negative symptoms. The current study aims to examine the relationship between idiographic network density and transdiagnostic markers of well-being, including continuous self-report measures and heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: Participants (N=325) were adults with moderate to severe depression symptoms and mild to severe anhedonia symptoms. They completed weekly surveys for 12 weeks and two 8-day epochs of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) five times per day. Physiological data was measured via an Apple Watch throughout the study. Idiographic networks were calculated separately for EMA measures of negative (NA) and positive affect (PA). Network density was measured in relation to survey scores using multiple linear regression and log-likelihood tests.

Results: Positive contemporaneous network density was positively associated with self-reported well-being six months later even after controlling for average levels of positive affect (p=.002). Negative affect network density was not significantly associated with self-reported well-being (ps > .79). Neither negative nor positive affect network density was significantly associated with concurrent levels of well-being (ps > .20).

Conclusions: This is the first study to find associations between idiographic network density and subsequent well-being. Network density and emotional inflexibility may be a key indicator for those at risk of decreased psychological well-being. Emotion flexibility may partially explain the maintenance of internalizing symptoms. Future research should investigate the underlying mechanisms and explore potential clinical interventions for individuals who demonstrate low network density.