PCA loadings generated from mDES questions.

The thoughts we experience in daily life have implications for our mental health and well-being. However, it is often difficult to measure thought patterns outside of laboratory conditions due to concerns about the voracity of measurements taken in daily life. To address this gap in the literature, our study set out to measure patterns of thought as they occur in daily life and assess the robustness of these measures and their associations with trait measurements of mental health and well-being. A sample of undergraduate participants completed multi-dimensional experience sampling surveys eight times per day for five days as they went around their normal lives. Principal Component Analysis reduced these data to identify the dimensions that explained the patterns of thought reported by our participants. We used linear modelling to map how these thought patterns related to the activities taking place at the time of the probe, highlighting good consistency within the sample, as well as substantial overlap with prior work. Multiple regression was used to examine associations between patterns of ongoing thought and aspects of mental health and well-being, highlighting a pattern of ‘Intrusive Distraction’ that had a positive association with anxiety, and a negative association with social well-being. Notably, this thought pattern tended to be most prevalent in solo activities and was relatively suppressed when interacting with other people (either in person or virtually). Our study, therefore, highlights the use of multi-dimensional experience sampling as a tool to understand how ongoing thought in daily life impacts on our mental health and well-being and establishes the important role social connectedness plays in the etiology of intrusive thinking.

我们在日常生活中所经历的思维活动，对自身心理健康与主观幸福感具有重要影响。然而，由于担忧日常生活场景下采集的测量数据的可信度（voracity），在实验室之外的自然场景中测量思维模式往往颇具挑战。为填补该领域的研究空白，本研究旨在对日常生活中自然发生的思维模式进行测量，并评估这些测量工具的稳健性，以及其与心理健康和主观幸福感的特质性测量指标之间的关联。本研究招募本科生作为被试，要求其在正常生活期间每日完成8次多维体验抽样（multi-dimensional experience sampling）问卷，持续时长共计5天。研究通过主成分分析（Principal Component Analysis）对数据进行降维，以提取能够解释被试所报告的思维模式的核心维度。本研究采用线性建模方法，厘清这些思维模式与测量时点所开展的活动之间的关联，结果显示样本内部一致性良好，且与既往研究成果存在大量重合之处。本研究进一步采用多元回归分析，探究持续性思维模式与心理健康及主观幸福感各维度之间的关联，结果发现一种名为“侵入性分心（Intrusive Distraction）”的思维模式与焦虑水平呈正相关，而与社会幸福感呈负相关。值得注意的是，该思维模式在独处活动中最为常见，而在与他人进行面对面或虚拟互动时则会受到相对抑制。综上，本研究证实了多维体验抽样可作为理解日常生活中持续性思维如何影响心理健康与主观幸福感的研究工具，并明确了社会联结在侵入性思维的发病机制中所发挥的关键作用。