Daily Exposures in Depression Maintenance

Maintenance cycles in depression work by creating reciprocal patterns that trigger and exacerbate the depressive mode of an individual. Each maintenance cycle works via different mechanisms (such as rumination), however, less is understood about what activities and experiences from our daily experience contribute to the improving or worsening of these cycles. In this study, 191 university student participants answered questions responding to different everyday activities, based on four different modes of engagement; time spent doing the activity, time spent thinking about it, its personal importance, and how much they enjoy it. A linear regression analysis determined that the 14 selected everyday activities functioned as a good predictor of depression, with phone-use being the only positive predictor and relaxing as the only negative predictor. These key predictors were then explored in greater depth. In a mediation analysis, it was found that phone use was not directly linked to depression, but they instead shared an indirect significant association which was mediated by maladaptive tendencies. Relaxing was incorporated as a moderator into the analysis but was found to have no association with these relationships. This research highlights the importance of phone-use within our everyday experiences, particularly paired with maladaptive tendencies. This represents a maintenance cycle of itself and the implications of this are discussed.