Unpacking the components of positive affect variability: Implications for psychological health across contexts.

Prior research suggests variability of positive affect (PA), or the degree to which an individual's experience of PA is variable rather than stable, is associated with worse psychological health. However, it is unclear whether different aspects of PA variability serve different psychological functions. One possibility is that changes in PA in response to rewarding contexts, or PA reactivity, serve a healthy function, while general instability of PA from one moment to the next serves an unhealthy function.

Were there losses in social support during the pandemic? Testing the impact of COVID-19 on psychological adjustment to trauma in United States adults.

Introduction: Social support is a key protective factor in the psychological adjustment of individuals to traumatic events. However, since March 2020, extant research has revealed evidence of increased loneliness, social isolation, and disconnection, likely due to COVID-19 pandemic-related recommendations that restricted day-to-day contact with others.

Methods: In this investigation, we applied a case-control design to test the direct impacts of the pandemic on social support in United States adults recovering from a significant injury caused by PTSD-qualifying, traumatic events (e.