Self-reported health bias: The role of daily affective valence and arousal

Objective : The present study addresses gaps in the literature on affect-biased health perceptions by (a) investigating health bias while considering both valence and arousal components of affect; (b) establishing the presence of, and variability in, affective health bias at the daily level; and (c)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology & health 2013-07, Vol.28 (7), p.784-799
Main Authors: Whitehead, Brenda R., Bergeman, Cindy S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect - physiology
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Arousal - physiology
Attitude to Health
Bias
daily diary
Female
health bias
health satisfaction
Health Status
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
negative affect
Personal Satisfaction
positive affect
Self Report
Studies
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Summary:Objective : The present study addresses gaps in the literature on affect-biased health perceptions by (a) investigating health bias while considering both valence and arousal components of affect; (b) establishing the presence of, and variability in, affective health bias at the daily level; and (c) exploring daily health bias in a non-clinical, community sample of adults. Design : Participants were 477 adults (aged 33-80 years) who reported daily health events, health satisfaction and affect for up to 56 days. Health bias was present when the effect of a given day's health events on that day's health satisfaction was significantly moderated by that day's affect. Multilevel modelling was used to investigate fixed and random within-day effects. Main Outcome Measure : Daily health satisfaction. Results : Significant interaction effects indicated the presence of health bias on the daily level: positively valenced affect buffered the negative impact of health events on health satisfaction, whereas negatively valenced affect exacerbated this association; additionally, valence emerged as the most salient characteristic of positive affect, whereas arousal was a differentiating factor for negative affect. Conclusion : The results provide evidence that both valence and arousal components of affect are important to consider when investigating day-level health bias, and that these effects can be detected using a general population of adults.
ISSN:0887-0446
1476-8321
DOI:10.1080/08870446.2012.759224