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Blunted anticipatory pleasure, but not consummatory pleasure, is longitudinally linked to depression symptoms in college students

Quynh Nguyen et al.

Motivation and Emotion2026https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-026-10226-5article
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0.50

Abstract

Blunted anticipatory and consummatory pleasure has been linked to depression symptoms, particularly anhedonic depression. The current study (1) investigated whether such associations represent stable individual differences, dynamic within-person fluctuations, or both, and (2) tested reciprocal pleasure-depression associations. Across four data waves during early COVID-19, college students at Brandeis University (N = 154) and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder; N = 296) completed questionnaires assessing depression symptoms (Brandeis sample) and anhedonic depression symptoms (CU Boulder sample) every two weeks for six weeks. In between biweekly questionnaires, participants completed daily diaries assessing anticipatory and consummatory pleasure for eight weeks (with each two-week period averaged into one time-point to create four time-points). Between-person associations between anticipatory pleasure and depression or anhedonic depression symptoms were non-significant. Findings for within-person cross-lagged effects provided complementary insight from each site: In CU Boulder sample, blunted anticipatory pleasure prospectively predicted anhedonic depression symptoms within-person, whereas the other direction did not reach significance; meanwhile, in Brandeis sample, depression symptoms prospectively predicted blunted anticipatory pleasure within-person, whereas the other direction did not reach significance. Finally, between- and within-person associations between consummatory pleasure and depression symptoms were non-significant. Findings suggest that blunted anticipatory pleasure, compared to consummatory pleasure, might be more strongly linked to depression symptoms and therefore a more effective target for clinical intervention. Further, associations between blunted anticipatory pleasure and depression or anhedonic depression symptoms may reflect more of a fluctuating within-person relation than a stable co-occurrence, pointing to periods of blunted anticipatory pleasure as potentially critical windows of intervention.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-026-10226-5

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@article{quynh2026,
  title        = {{Blunted anticipatory pleasure, but not consummatory pleasure, is longitudinally linked to depression symptoms in college students}},
  author       = {Quynh Nguyen et al.},
  journal      = {Motivation and Emotion},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-026-10226-5},
}

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Blunted anticipatory pleasure, but not consummatory pleasure, is longitudinally linked to depression symptoms in college students

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F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
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R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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