Daily social interactions and values-consistent behavior in clinical and non-clinical individuals.

Little is known about patients’ daily social interactions, the lack thereof, or their values
in daily life. Especially if social areas and affect are concerned, as in patients diagnosed with
major depressive disorder (MDD) or social phobia (SP), this merits further investigation. What
is valued in daily life can further impact social interactions. What patients value in daily life
and to what degree they behave accordingly (i.e., exhibit values-consistent behavior) is
currently unknown. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to examine (1) social interactions in
relation to affect, (2) having social interactions (proportion, and quality of social interactions)
versus not having social interactions (wishing for, and avoiding social interactions), and (3)
values in daily life. Using event-sampling methodology, participants’ daily behavior was
sampled in their natural environment. Types of social interactions, negative affect (NA),
positive affect (PA), and the quality and avoidance of social interactions were investigated in
patients diagnosed with MDD (n = 118) or SP (n = 47), and in a control group (CG, n = 119),
while daily values-consistent behavior was examined in transdiagnostic in- and outpatients (n
= 100). Results show that the MDD and SP group engaged more often in technological (e.g.,
phone, Internet) interactions than the CG, which engaged more often in face-to-face
interactions. NA was positively associated with technological interactions, whereas PA was
positively associated with face-to-face interactions. Compared to the CG, both the MDD and
the SP group reported a lower quality of their social interactions, and generally avoided social
interactions more often. Both in- and outpatients reported more values-consistent behavior if
the behavior was judged as important or if it was embedded in a social context. Findings
indicate that the association between technological interactions and NA should be considered
when developing or applying clinical technological interventions. Further, understanding what
reinforces social interactions in patients might facilitate the incorporation of important and
social values into clinical work. This might then increase patients’ values-consistent behavior.