Relatively little is known about the links between the events and emotions experienced in daily life and long-term outcomes among people diagnosed with depression. Using daily diary data from the Midlife Development in the United States, we examined how positive daily life events and emotions influence long-term (10 years later) depression severity and well-being. Participants met criteria for major depressive disorder (n = 121) or reported no depression (n = 839) over the past 12 months. Participants reported positive events, socializing activities, and negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) for 8 consecutive days. Relative to nondepressed adults, depressed adults reported fewer positive events (fewer positive interactions, spending less time with others), lower PA, and higher NA. Among initially depressed adults, higher baseline well-being was related to higher daily PA, lower NA, and fewer days with less reported social time; higher daily PA and positive interactions predicted higher well-being 10 years later (N = 77). Variations in day-to-day events and emotions among people with depression may presage psychological functioning years later.

关于日常生活中发生的事件与情感与被诊断为抑郁症的人的长期结果之间的联系知之甚少。使用来自美国中年发展的每日日记数据，我们研究了积极的日常生活事件和情绪如何影响长期（10年后）的抑郁症严重程度和幸福感。参加者符合重度抑郁症标准（n = 121）或报告无抑郁症（n= 839）在过去的12个月中。参与者连续8天报告了积极事件，社交活动以及负面影响（NA）和正面影响（PA）。相对于未抑郁的成年人，抑郁的成年人报告的积极事件较少（积极互动较少，与他人在一起的时间更少），PA较低和NA较高。在最初抑郁的成年人中，较高的基线幸福感与每日PA升高，NA降低，社交时间减少有关的天数减少有关；较高的每日PA和积极的互动预测10年后的幸福感会更高（N = 77）。抑郁症患者的日常事件和情绪变化可能预示着几年后的心理功能。