title: Longitudinal evaluation of anhedonia as a mediator of fear of positive evaluation and other depressive symptoms.
abstract: Fear of positive evaluation (FPE) is experiencing dread during real or potential praise. FPE is associated with social anxiety, but its relation to depressive symptoms is unclear. Anhedonia is a core symptom of depression related to symptoms of anxiety in cross-sectional research. The current study investigated the indirect effect of FPE on depressive symptoms via anhedonia over time. One-hundred ninety-six participants completed three waves of questionnaires over a total timespan of approximately four months via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, including measures of FPE, depressive symptoms, and anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia. Findings indicated that anticipatory anhedonia at Time 2 mediated the relationship between FPE at Time 1 and depressive symptoms at Time 3. Consummatory anhedonia, however, did not. Each model was contextualised by accounting for prospective covarying relationships, such as depressive symptoms predicting the same symptoms at later waves. The constellation of findings is considered within a reward devaluation framework.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Mississippi State University , Starkville , MS , USA.
authors.forename: D Gage
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4374-016X
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Mississippi State University , Starkville , MS , USA.
authors.forename: E Samuel
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Winer
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Mississippi State University , Starkville , MS , USA.
authors.forename: Taban
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Mississippi State University , Starkville , MS , USA.
authors.forename: Jenna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kilgore
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059445:Anhedonia; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fear of positive evaluation; anticipatory anhedonia; consummatory anhedonia; depression; longitudinal