Perspective on Thoughts and Feelings as a Predictor of Psychological Well-being in Daily Life, in a Community Sample

University at Buffalo (UB)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mindfulness; Mental Health

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03336710

1R21AT009470-01

R21AT009470 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project examines the psychological construct of decentering - a mindfulness-related construct marked by an observer perspective on one's ongoing mental processes. Specifically, this project seeks to explore the extent to which decentering modulates the relationship between people's affective states and their momentary mental health and well-being, and to test the psychological processes by which decentering might exert these effects. This study includes a baseline assessment followed by a 7-day study completed from home where participants respond to brief surveys about their current experiences six times per day (i.e., an Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA] design).

The investigators hypothesize that decentering moderates the association of extreme affect with related symptoms (i.e., elevated negative affect with depression and anxiety; elevated positive affect with mania, narcissism, and histrionic traits) and well-being, such that the association is attenuated at high levels of decentering. This will be examined using the EMA data, analyzing between-person levels (i.e., trait) as well as momentary within-person processes (i.e., concurrent and prospective states).

Further, the investigators predict that broadened attentional focus and improved self-regulation are mechanisms that contribute to the beneficial effects of decentering in daily life. This hypothesis will be examined in two ways:

1. as individual differences, wherein greater self-regulatory abilities (e.g., higher heart rate variability) and less attentional biases towards emotional stimuli mediate the association between trait decentering and subsequent daily well-being/symptoms, and
2. as within-person momentary levels, wherein broader attentional processes and greater self-regulation in daily life mediate the concurrent and prospective association between momentary decentering and well-being/symptoms.

Note that the study uses a multimodal assessment of each of the proposed processes. For attentional processes, a variety of parameters extracted from an emotional eye tracking paradigm will be examined. For self-regulatory abilities, assessments will include self-report, physiological (heart rate variability), and behavioral ("go / no-go" task) measures of such abilities.

Enrollment: 380 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age 18-65, fluency in English

Exclusion criteria

• current cognitive impairments (i.e., intellectual disability, dementia, current psychotic symptoms) that preclude giving informed consent and accurately answering study questions

Trial design

380 participants in 1 patient group

Primary sample

Description:

Community sample of adults (18-65) from the greater Buffalo, NY region, oversampling people who are seeking mental health treatment.