The Link Between Delayed Affective Recovery From Daily Stressors and Anxiety Symptoms in Youth

Key symptoms of anxiety include experiencing unpleasant emotions and hyperarousal. Growing evidence suggests that delayed affective recovery (DAR) from daily stressors plays a role in their maintenance and development on a day-to-day basis. We examined whether DAR is linked to current and future anxiety symptoms, independently of depressive symptoms. Self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed at Wave 1 (N = 1,031) and approximately 2.5 years later at Wave 2 (N = 171) in a community sample of Flemish adolescents. Additionally, at Wave 1, the experience sampling method was used to obtain assessments of momentary affect and to infer stressful occurrences, with data collected 10 times a day, for 6 days. Using affective experience sampling method data, we constructed two variables, that is, affective valence and arousal, reflecting the (un)pleasantness and (hyper)arousal associated with emotions. The time interval for recovery was estimated using parametric survival analysis. Prospective associations were tested with multiple regression. Slower valence recovery was associated with higher concurrent anxiety symptoms. A similar association was present for the arousal recovery, however only when depressive symptoms were added to the model. We found no prospective association between the speed of valence nor arousal recovery at Wave 1 and anxiety symptoms at Wave 2. The results suggest that DAR is linked to current anxiety symptoms but does not predict their development 2.5 years later. Our findings provide insights into possible processes underlying the key features of anxiety and help identify the moments of vulnerability in the daily lives of youth.