정적 정서, 부적 정서, 자존감의 전반적 수준 및 불안정성과 우울 및 신경증 성향의 관계: 경험표집법과 다층모형을 이용한 분석

The fact that the level and instability of emotions and self-esteem are related to depression and neuroticism has long been supported by many studies. However, most studies exploring the relationship between individual differences in emotion and self-esteem and depression or neuroticism have focused on either levels or instability of emotions and self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to distinguish individual differences in instability from those in levels of emotions and self-esteem, and to understand how these individual differences are related to individual differences in psychological adjustment. For this purpose, we used experience sampling method to collect the state emotions and state self-esteem experienced in daily life. Multilevel modeling was then applied to determine how the overall level and instability of the state measures relate to depressive symptoms and neuroticism. The results showed that the depressive symptoms were more related to instability than to levels of emotional experience in daily life. Low and more variable self-esteem was also related to the depressive symptoms. The results also suggested that the key factor that characterizes the neuroticism is the instability of negative emotion and self-esteem. These results are informative in that various aspects of the dynamic process over time were considered and appropriate analytic procedures were applied.