Antecedents of valence-activation measures of emotional well-being

Abstract

In several areas of emotion-related research, antecedents, associations, and outcomes differ if affect varies in both valence and activation. Aiming to show that this would likewise be true of common valence-activation measures of emotional well-being (EWB), this study tests how EWB would be related to antecedents if valence differs in low-to-high activation, moderate activation, and high-to-low activation. A random sample of Swedish citizens aged 15 years and older (n=901) answered a self-report questionnaire.  In general agreement with the hypotheses, multivariate linear regression analyses showed that low-to-high activation valence is more strongly linked to information about security than information about success or opportunity, that moderate activation valence is more strongly linked to information about success than information about security or opportunity, and that high-to-low activation valence is more strongly linked to information about opportunity than information about success or security. Age and gender influenced the three EWB measures without altering the hypothesized results.