1-095 - Using daily diary measures to assess individual differences in responses to stress in children, adolescents, and young adults

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Intensive repeated measures (i.e., ecological momentary assessments) are being increasingly utilized in developmental psychological research. Repeated assessments of youth perceptions, mood, and health behaviors allow researchers to examine life as lived. This approach, comprised of subjective and objective tools like daily diaries and wrist-based actigraphs, complements questionnaires and laboratory observations by capturing dynamic stress response processes as they unfold in the home and school settings. The three papers in this symposium showcase a novel use of intensive repeated measures across diverse samples of youths. Using daily diaries collected from children, Mexican-American high school students, and emerging adults, this collection of studies examines stress response processes in naturalistic settings across development. Whereas past diary studies have focused on same-day, within-person associations, current studies use repeated measures to assess between-person differences in stress response processes. The three papers examine individual differences in mood response to school problems in children; sensitivity to negative and positive family experiences in high school students; and the effect of active coping strategies on objective measures of sleep in emerging adults. We tested the validity of these stress response measures by examining their links to youth psychological adjustment problems or average sleep efficiency. Together, the three papers apply daily diaries to integrate and build upon past research on daily stress reactivity and emotion regulation. Through its creative use of intensive repeated measures, findings from this collection of studies inform intervention programs aimed at improving emotional and behavioral responses to stress in youths.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Sunhye Bai, UCLA

Discussant

• Kim Tsai, California State University, San Marcos

Individual Presentations

• Negative and Positive Mood Reponses to Daily School Problems in Childhood Predict Psychological Problems in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Sunhye Bai, UCLA; Rena Repetti, UCLA; Theodore F Robles, UCLA

• Association of reactivity to positive and negative daily events among Mexican American adolescents - Presenting Author: Joanna Kim, UCLA; Nancy A Gonzales, Arizona State University; Andrew J Fuligni, UCLA

• Individual and Day-to-Day Differences in Psychological Responses to Stress Predict Sleep in Emerging Adulthood - Presenting Author: Michael R Sladek, Arizona State University; Reagan S Breitenstein, Arizona State University; Leah D. Doane, Arizona State University