(PS11-72) Dynamic Relationships Between Savoring and Affect in Adults with Emotional Disorders: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Savoring involves attending to, appreciating, and enhancing positive life events (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Dispositional savoring is related to enhanced coping and resilience (Samios et al., 2020; Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2020), reduced psychopathology (Eisner et al., 2009), and increased wellbeing (e.g., Quoidbach et al., 2010). Meanwhile, state savoring has been linked to increased and enduring positive affect (PA; Colombo et al., 2021). However, relationships between affect, trait, and state savoring have not been investigated with a treatment seeking sample using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). The exploratory aim of the present study was to investigate dynamic, temporal relationships between savoring and affect in adults with emotional disorders.

This study used EMA to examine how state and trait savoring related to concurrent and previous-day negative affect (NA) and PA. Participants were 47 adults with emotional disorders (64.2% female, 85.7% White, M age = 34.02, SD =12) who completed a one-week EMA period before beginning digital CBT in the context of a randomized clinical trial. All participants completed at least 75% of daily prompts. We specified 4 multilevel models in R v.4.3.2. Model 1 included daily NA as the outcome, with a level 1 predictor of daily total savoring and level 2 predictors of dispositional and person mean centered savoring. Models 2-4 had identical specifications to Model 1 except that they examined daily PA, next day PA and next day NA as outcomes.

Results were that higher levels of person-mean centered state savoring were associated with lower daily NA (B = -5.61, p= < .001); therefore, increases in an individual’s typical level of daily savoring were linked to reductions in daily NA for that individual. There were no significant predictors of variations in previous day NA. Person mean centered state savoring was a statistically significant predictor of daily PA (B=5.585, p =.00); therefore, increases in an individual’s typical level of daily savoring were linked to greater daily PA for that individual. Grand mean centered state savoring was a significant predictor of daily PA (B = 11.51, p= .00); therefore, greater than average levels of savoring were linked to increased daily PA. Finally, grand mean centered state savoring was a significant predictor of previous day PA (B= 11.12, p= .00), suggesting a positive temporal relationship between PA and subsequent savoring, and that elevated PA on one day is associated with increased savoring on the following day on a group level.

Higher state savoring was linked to lower daily NA, indicating that engaging in savoring may buffer against NA states, or that those who generally experience lower NA in daily life are also more likely to endorse engaging in savoring. The evinced relationships between PA and savoring reflect the importance of savoring in both prompting and maintaining PA. The relationship between previous day PA and next day savoring indicates that experiencing PA can lead to increased savoring which in turn leads to increased PA, creating a feedback loop. These findings highlight the potential for savoring interventions to promote PA and reduce NA.