Positive Affectivity: Specificity of Its Facet Level Relations with Psychopathology

This study sought to explicate the strength and direction of the relations between specific facets of positive affectivity (joviality, self-assurance, attentiveness, and serenity) and a broad range of psychopathology. Internalizing, externalizing, mania, and psychoticism were assessed using both self-report and interview measures in a diverse community sample (N = 255; Mage = 45.1 years; 58.4 % African American, 33.3 % Caucasian). Our results indicated that these positive affectivity facets demonstrated distinctive patterns of relations with psychopathology and exhibited incremental predictive power beyond that explained by negative affectivity. In particular, self-assurance displayed notable positive relations with externalizing and mania, emerging as a somewhat maladaptive variant of positive affectivity. Joviality also related positively to manic symptoms. In contrast, serenity and attentiveness related negatively to such indicators and to psychopathology more generally. These data provide strong evidence that incremental information is gained by examining positive affectivity–psychopathology relations at the facet level.