Does daily happiness and nervousness differ in adolescents and young adults in three Latin American cities: an experience sampling study (Preprint)

Abstract

Experience Sampling Methods (ESM) have been used in clinical research to collect data on emotional and behavioural states in real life contexts among different populations. Although the use of ESM in mental health has increased, it has not been applied to larger samples of young people in disadvantaged urban settings.

This study aimed to determine the extent to which mood status scores (happiness and nervous) vary during a week as a function of having or not having symptoms of depression and/or anxiety in a sample of adolescents and young adults in the cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bogotá (Colombia) and Lima (Peru). A secondary objective was to identify factors associated with mood scores, including socio-demographics, quality of life, and daily activities.

The study was part of the OLA research programme, which focuses on mental health resources for young people. Participants (n=143) aged 15-24 completed daily ESM assessments over a week using the mobile App. Data were analysed using multilevel linear regression to evaluate associations between depressive/anxiety symptoms, mood status variability, and factors influencing mood average.

The analysis revealed that depressive and/or anxiety symptoms were not significantly associated with increased variability in mood scores. However, males exhibited greater variability in happiness and nervousness scores than females. Additionally, young people showed higher variability in nervousness than adolescents. Regarding average happiness scores, young adults reported higher average happiness than adolescents. Engaging in structured activities (e.g., sports, music lessons, dance classes) was associated with increased happiness. In contrast, instrumental activities (e.g., cleaning, shopping, meal preparation, taking medication) and work-related tasks were linked to lower happiness and higher nervousness. Quality of life was positively correlated with happiness and negatively correlated with nervousness. Finally, as for average scores, a strong negative correlation was found between happiness and nervousness.

Our study reveals that depressive and anxiety symptoms do not significantly affect the variability in predicted happiness and nervousness scores. However, we observed that demographic factors, such as gender and age, play a role in emotional variability.