Physical activity showed no shared associations with affect across the sample, but 45% of participants had at least one individual-specific association, most frequently with positive affect (25%).
Observational (n=300)
Does physical activity associate with positive and negative affect in individuals with and without depressive and anxiety disorders?
There is large individual-level heterogeneity in the association between physical activity and affect, underscoring the importance of personalized approaches rather than group-level assumptions.
ABSTRACT Objectives Associations between physical activity and affect (activity‐affect dynamics) vary among individuals for which reasons remain unclear. We examined whether such heterogeneity is explained by psychiatric status or sociodemographic, clinical, and ambulatory assessment characteristics. Methods Two‐week ambulatory assessment data of 300 participants with current ( n = 79), subthreshold ( n = 67), and no ( n = 154) depressive and/or anxiety disorders or symptoms were obtained from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Positive and negative affect (PA/NA) were assessed with ecological momentary assessment (5xdaily) and physical activity using actigraphy. Group iterative multiple model estimation was used to model associations shared across the sample, psychiatric subgroups, and those specific to individuals. Results No activity‐affect associations were shared across the sample (i.e., present in > 75% of all individuals) or psychiatric subgroups (i.e., present in > 51% of individuals within subgroups). Nevertheless, 45% of participants had at least one activity‐affect association, with considerable heterogeneity in their nature. The most frequent association was a positive contemporaneous association between physical activity and PA (present in 25% of the sample). Conclusions These findings suggest large heterogeneity in activity‐affect dynamics among individuals and underscore the importance of considering the unique dynamics of the individual.
Zwieten et al. (Mon,) conducted a observational in Depressive and anxiety disorders (n=300). Physical activity was evaluated on Associations between physical activity and positive/negative affect. Physical activity showed no shared associations with affect across the sample, but 45% of participants had at least one individual-specific association, most frequently with positive affect (25%).