Life Events as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes

Life events are noteworthy events that punctuate our lives and shape our experiences; their impact on mental health is complex and not fully understood.This paper examines the effects of life event occurrences on the mental health outcomes of 493 participants in a year-long longitudinal study responding to daily surveys of mental health outcomes. Regression models revealed the relationship between individual differences, life event attributes, and mental health outcomes. We found that health-related life events are linked to worsened negative affect and stress, as well as poorer sleep quality.Anticipation of events, while associated with greater positive affect and lower negative affect, is also associated with poorer sleep.Similarly, event valence showed a positive relationship with positive affect and a negative relationship with negative affect, stress, and anxiety.Event intimacy, however, is negatively associated with positive affect, whereas events that span across a time period are positively linked to both positive and negative affect, as well as higher stress and anxiety.Interestingly, sharing life events on Facebook is likely to have a positive impact on wellbeing---associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect, stress, and anxiety---though it is also linked to poorer sleep.These findings provide valuable insights into the intricate relationship between life events and mental health, highlighting how event attributes---such as type, anticipation, valence, continuity, scope, intimacy, and online disclosure---shape affect, stress, anxiety, and sleep quality.Our work contributes a systemic understanding of the interplay between life events and psychophysiological responses, paving the way for more effective mental health interventions.