{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T20:19:20Z","timestamp":1791577160652,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,6]],"date-time":"2024-09-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1725580800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Previous research has focused on understanding the occurrence of intense and fluctuating emotions and the ability to manage these emotions and affective states. These phenomena have been, respectively, labeled as affective instability and emotion regulation and have been studied among individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder (BD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous findings suggest that affective instability may be associated with poorer psychological well-being. The present study aims to investigate the general tendency of affective instability and capacity for emotional regulation among college students, regardless of a previous psychological diagnosis, and to understand the relationship between these processes and psychological well-being. Three questionnaires were administered to measure levels of affective instability, the ability to manage fluctuating affective states, and overall psychological well-being. The findings suggest that (1) individuals with diagnoses experience affective lability and difficulty regulating emotions at a greater rate than those without, (2) higher affective lability scores are consistent with more significant emotion dysregulation and lower overall psychological well-being, and (3) scores on the Affective lability Scale (ALS) and the Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS) are reliable predictors of one\u2019s estimated Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores. Although causation has not been established, the evidence suggests that individuals with diagnoses experience greater difficulty in regulating their emotions, have greater affective lability, and experience diminished psychological well-being and day-to-day functionality. Certain anecdotal evidence suggests that emotional lability can be endogenous and affect multiple aspects of an individual\u2019s social, occupational, and personal life. By revising the existing literature and the present findings, the authors provide insights into the significance of endogenous factors in the context of affective lability and offer suggestions for future research.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs14090783","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,6]],"date-time":"2024-09-06T07:42:06Z","timestamp":1725608526000},"page":"783","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Affective Instability: Impact of Fluctuating Emotions on Regulation and Psychological Well-Being"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Dork","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49417, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Erin","family":"Mangan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49417, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0081-9350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lawrence","family":"Burns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49417, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eugene","family":"Dimenstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI 49417, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1007\/s00406-022-01380-1","article-title":"Affective lability and social functioning in severe mental disorders","volume":"272","author":"Melle","year":"2022","journal-title":"Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pscychresns.2016.06.009","article-title":"Affective lability and difficulties with regulation are differentially associated with amygdala and prefrontal response in women with borderline personality disorder","volume":"254","author":"Silvers","year":"2016","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res. Neuroimaging"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.3109\/10673229.2012.747798","article-title":"Toward a definition of affective instability","volume":"20","author":"Renaud","year":"2012","journal-title":"Harv. Rev. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2019.09.076","article-title":"Emotion dynamics concurrently and prospectively predict mood psychopathology","volume":"261","author":"Sperry","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salome, G., Vignaud, P., Galia, P., Prieto, N., and Chauliac, N. (2023). Determinants of Care Pathways for C-PTSD Patients in French Psychotrauma Centers: A Qualitative Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20136278"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2022.102177","article-title":"Conceptualizing traumatic stress and the structure of posttraumatic psychopathology through the lenses of RDoC and HiTOP","volume":"95","author":"Hawn","year":"2022","journal-title":"Clin. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"839","DOI":"10.1176\/ajp.2006.163.5.839","article-title":"Neuroticism and affective instability: The same or different?","volume":"163","author":"Miller","year":"2006","journal-title":"Am. J. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.113.2.279","article-title":"Borderline personality disorder features predict negative outcomes 2 years later","volume":"113","author":"Bagge","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2019.00072","article-title":"Flexible emotion regulation: How situational demands and individual differences influence the effectiveness of regulatory strategies","volume":"10","author":"Kusev","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Gross, J.J., and Thompson, R.A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. Handbook of Emotion Regulation, The Guilford Press. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"923","DOI":"10.1037\/a0021156","article-title":"The ability to regulate emotion is associated with greater well-being, income, and socioeconomic status","volume":"10","author":"Gyurak","year":"2010","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2189\/asqu.51.1.1","article-title":"Emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and job performance","volume":"51","author":"Miners","year":"2006","journal-title":"Adm. Sci. Q."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1023\/B:JOBA.0000007455.08539.94","article-title":"Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale","volume":"26","author":"Gratz","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Psychopathol. Behav. Assess"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1186\/s40345-021-00237-1","article-title":"Affective lability as a prospective predictor of subsequent bipolar disorder diagnosis: A systematic review","volume":"9","author":"Taylor","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Bipolar. Disord."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1953","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-20380-7","article-title":"Endogenous emotion generation ability is associated with the capacity to form multimodal internal representations","volume":"8","author":"Engen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"432","DOI":"10.3390\/women3030033","article-title":"Reproductive hormones and female mental wellbeing","volume":"3","author":"Wieczorek","year":"2023","journal-title":"Women"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1609","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2005.12.003","article-title":"Fragile self-esteem and affective instability in posttraumatic stress disorder","volume":"44","author":"Kashdan","year":"2006","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Ther."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"603","article-title":"Psychological wellbeing: A systematic literature review","volume":"3","author":"Dhanabhakyam","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int. Adv. Res."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2261","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-022-05536-9","article-title":"A promising new measure for quantifying emotion dysregulation in toddlers and preschoolers: Development of the emotion dysregulation inventory-young child","volume":"53","author":"Day","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Autism. Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1007\/s10802-020-00686-9","article-title":"Maternal emotion dysregulation predicts emotion socialization practices and adolescent emotion lability: Conditional effects of youth ADHD symptoms","volume":"50","author":"Oddo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Res. Child Adolesc. Psychopathol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.4097\/kja.d.18.00292","article-title":"More about the basic assumptions of t-test: Normality and sample size","volume":"72","author":"Kim","year":"2019","journal-title":"Korean J. Anesthesiol."},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"543","article-title":"Numerical methods for coupled systems of quasilinear elliptic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions","volume":"6","author":"Pao","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Appl. Anal. Comput."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1279","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2003.12.013","article-title":"The affective lability scales: Development of a short-form measure","volume":"37","author":"Oliver","year":"2004","journal-title":"Pers. Individ. Dif."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"786","DOI":"10.1002\/1097-4679(198909)45:5<786::AID-JCLP2270450515>3.0.CO;2-P","article-title":"The affective lability scales: Development, reliability, and validity","volume":"45","author":"Harvey","year":"1989","journal-title":"J. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2010.03.030","article-title":"Psychometric Properties of a short form of the affective lability scale (ALS-18)","volume":"49","author":"Look","year":"2010","journal-title":"Pers. Individ. Dif."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1007\/s10862-015-9529-3","article-title":"The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form (DERS-SF): Validation and replication in adolescent and adult samples","volume":"38","author":"Kaufman","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Psychopathol. Behav. Assess."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1103","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssresearch.2006.01.002","article-title":"Best news yet on the Six-factor model of well-being","volume":"35","author":"Ryff","year":"2006","journal-title":"Soc. Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"719","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.69.4.719","article-title":"The structure of psychological well-being revisited","volume":"69","author":"Ryff","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1186\/1744-859X-10-2","article-title":"Guidelines for rating global assessment of functioning (GAF)","volume":"10","author":"Aas","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ann. Gen. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"654","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.166.5.654","article-title":"A brief mental health outcome scale-reliability and validity of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)","volume":"166","author":"Jones","year":"1995","journal-title":"Br. J. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2018.06.038","article-title":"Affective instability predicts the course of depression in late middle-age and older adulthood","volume":"239","author":"Eldesouky","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1066","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ps.640901","article-title":"Axis V: Essential supplement to the DSM-5","volume":"64","author":"Kennedy","year":"2013","journal-title":"Psychiatr. Serv."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1068","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nsac042","article-title":"A missing link in affect regulation: The cerebellum","volume":"17","author":"Frazier","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.2174\/157340012800792957","article-title":"Neurobiological underpinnings of the estrogen\u2014Mood relationship","volume":"8","author":"Wharton","year":"2012","journal-title":"Curr. Psychiatry Rev."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2009.07.007","article-title":"Neuroticism, Negative Affect, and Negative Affect Instability: Establishing Convergent and Discriminant Validity Using Ecological Momentary Assessment","volume":"47","author":"Miller","year":"2009","journal-title":"Pers. Individ. Diff."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bucci, R., Manfredini, D., Lenci, F., Simeon, V., Bracci, A., and Michelotti, A. (2022). Comparison between Ecological Momentary Assessment and Questionnaire for Assessing the Frequency of Waking-Time Non-Functional Oral Behaviours. J. Clin. Med., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm11195880"}],"container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/14\/9\/783\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T15:49:47Z","timestamp":1760111387000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/14\/9\/783"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,6]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9]]}},"alternative-id":["bs14090783"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/bs14090783","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-328X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-328X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,6]]}}}