Changes in emotional granularity under a population-level stressor predict social anxiety and depressive symptoms

Emotional granularity, reflecting the specificity with which individuals distinguish their emotional experiences, is crucial to emotional well-being. This study examined whether emotional granularity predicts adolescents' social anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 140 adolescents (M_age = 11.91) reported daily emotions for 21–28 days at three timepoints: before the pandemic, during the acute phase, and 1 year later. Results showed that negative emotional granularity decreased from prepandemic to the acute phase and increased during the chronic phase. Adolescents with larger decreases in negative granularity during the acute phase and smaller increases during the chronic phase reported higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms at follow-up. Notably, baseline granularity and its stress-related changes were stronger predictors of social anxiety than depression. These findings suggest that the ability to differentiate negative emotions with greater precision may serve as an adaptive emotional process that buffers adolescents against internalizing problems.