Somatic symptoms are common among adolescents and young adults and may substantially interfere with everyday functioning. It is therefore important to examine how their experience is related to different psychological processes. The present study examined the relationship between the dynamics of positive and negative affect and self-reported somatic symptoms. The sample included 132 individuals aged 15 to 30 years, who first completed the PAI or PAI-A and then reported their positive affect, negative affect, and somatic symptoms twice per day for 20 consecutive days. Dynamic associations between the studied processes were examined using continuous-time structural equation modelling (CTSEM). The results showed that higher positive affect to reporting of fewer somatic symptoms in the following hours, whereas higher negative affect led to more somatic symptoms. Higher somatic symptom reporting was also associated with more variable and unstable affect. Because symptoms of depression and anxiety are common during adolescence and young adulthood, we further examined how the dynamic associations between affect and somatic symptoms changed when depressive and anxiety symptoms were taken into account as moderators. The results indicated a weakening of the protective role of positive affect and a strengthening of the feedback loop between negative affect and somatic symptoms in the context of both higher anxiety and higher depressive symptoms. The organization of dynamic processes also differed depending on the type of symptomatology. In the context of higher anxiety symptoms, the effects between processes were more broadly interconnected, whereas in the context of higher depressive symptoms, they were more strongly limited to the feedback loop between negative affect and somatic symptoms. Interpreted through the framework of predictive coding and active inference, the findings highlight the importance of a dynamic understanding of individual functioning when examining the relationship between psychopathology and the experience of bodily symptoms, as well as when designing therapeutic approaches.
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