Multilevel factor analysis and structural equation modeling of daily diary coping data: Modeling trait and state variation

The current study used multilevel modeling of daily diary data to model within-person (state) and between-person (trait) components of coping variables. This application included the introduction of multilevel factor analysis (MFA) and a comparison of the predictive ability of these trait/state factors. Daily diary data was collected on a large (n = 366) multiethnic sample over the course of five days. Intraclass correlation coefficient for the derived factors suggested approximately equal amounts of variability in coping usage at the state and trait levels. MFAs showed that Problem-Focused Coping and Social Support emerged as stable factors at both the within-person and between-person levels. Other factors (Minimization, Emotional Rumination, Avoidance, Distraction) were specific to the within-person or between-person levels, but not both. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) showed that the prediction of daily positive and negative affect differed as a function of outcome and level of coping factor. The Discussion section focuses primarily on a conceptual and methodological understanding of modeling state and trait coping using daily diary data with MFA and MSEM to examine covariation among coping variables and predicting outcomes of interest.     

The state version of the recovery experience questionnaire: A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis

Although many studies in the field of recovery from work utilize a quantitative diary design, little is known about the validity of the daily measures used in such studies. The present study analyses the factor structure of the state version of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ) on the between-person (trait) and within-person (state) levels. A total of 127 employees participated in the study. Most of them filled out the questionnaire on three consecutive workdays (N = 375 observations). Results of multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA) showed that a four-factor model fit the data better than alternative models at both levels of analysis (between and within). In addition, some factor loadings of the four recovery experience dimensions (particularly for relaxation and control) were lower on the day level as compared to the general level. Nevertheless, we conclude that both state and trait versions of the REQ show good psychometric properties. Implications for future research on recovery are discussed.     

On Standardizing Within-Person Effects: Potential Problems of Global Standardization

Person-mean centering has been recommended for disaggregating between-person and within-person effects when modeling time-varying predictors. Multilevel modeling textbooks recommended global standardization for standardizing fixed effects. An aim of this study is to evaluate whether and when person-mean centering followed by global standardization can accurately estimate fixed-effects within-person relations (the estimand of interest in this study) in multilevel modeling. We analytically derived that global standardization generally yields inconsistent (asymptotically biased) estimates for the estimand when between-person differences in within-person standard deviations exist and the average within-person relation is nonzero. Alternatively, a person-mean-SD standardization (P-S) approach yields consistent estimates. Our simulation results further revealed (1) how misleading the results from global standardization were under various circumstances and (2) the P-S approach had accurate estimates and satisfactory coverage rates of fixed-effects within-person relations when the number of occasions is 30 or more (in many conditions, performance was satisfactory with 10 or 20 occasions). A daily diary data example, focused on emotional complexity, was used to empirically illustrate the approaches. Researchers should choose standardization approaches based on theoretical considerations and should clearly describe the purpose and procedure of standardization in research articles.     

Emotional Awareness in Daily Life: Exploring Its Potential Role in Repetitive Thinking and Healthy Coping

Cross-sectional research has found that emotional awareness, which is composed of one’s emotional clarity and attention to emotions, is associated with psychopathology, emotion regulation, and coping. Not surprisingly then, emotional awareness is often a target of cognitive and behavioral therapies. However, little is known about what emotional awareness is related to in daily life, which would inform how and for whom emotional awareness training should be conducted in therapeutic settings. The goal of the current studies was to examine associations among facets of emotional awareness and repetitive thinking (i.e., rumination, worry, and reflection), emotion regulation, and coping in daily life. We conducted two 7-day daily diary studies (n = 172 in Study 1, n = 211 in Study 2) measuring daily experiences of repetitive negative thinking, emotion regulation efforts, and coping. Multilevel models showed that trait levels of emotional clarity were negatively associated, at the between-person level, with daily levels of repetitive negative thinking and positively associated with active coping. Additionally, daily levels of emotional clarity were associated, at the within-person level, with worrying and active coping, whereas daily levels of attention to emotions were associated, at the within-person level, with reflection. Theoretical and clinical implications for emotional awareness, particularly emotional clarity, are discussed.     

Distress tolerance as a mechanism of mindfulness for depression and anxiety: Cross-sectional and diary evidence

BackgroundBoth trait and state mindfulness are associated with less depression and anxiety, but the mechanisms remain unknown. Distress tolerance, an important transdiagnostic factor of emotional disorders, may mediate the relationship between mindfulness and depression/anxiety.MethodStudy 1 examined the mediation model at the between-person level in a large cross-sectional sample (n = 905). In Study 2, a daily diary study (n = 110) was conducted to examine within-person changes. Participants were invited to complete daily diaries measuring daily mindfulness, distress tolerance, depression and anxiety for 14 consecutive days.ResultsIn Study 1, results of simple mediation analyses indicated that distress tolerance mediated the relationship between mindfulness and depression/anxiety at the between-person level. In Study 2, results of multilevel mediation analyses indicated that, in both the concurrent model and time-lagged model, daily distress tolerance mediated the effects of daily mindfulness on daily depression/anxiety at both the within- and between-person level.ConclusionsDistress tolerance is a mechanism underlying the relationship between mindfulness and depression/anxiety. Individuals with high or fluctuating depression and anxiety may benefit from short-term or long-term mindfulness training to increase distress tolerance.     

A daily diary study of the relationships among daily self-compassion,perceived stress and health-promoting behaviours

Previous studies consistently found that trait self-compassion is positively associated with health-promoting behaviours, and perceived stress mediates the relationship. The current study primarily aimed at examining whether state self-compassion varying from day to day (daily self-compassion) played the same role as trait self-compassion in improving health-promoting behaviours and whether or not perceived stress would be the mediator in this relationship. Eighty-nine Chinese employees were recruited to finish demographic information and the trait measure of self-compassion first, and then finish daily diaries for seven consecutive days. Daily diary measures included daily self-compassion, perceived stress and health-promoting behaviours including both eating behaviours and exercise behaviours. The results of 1-1-1 multilevel mediation analyses showed that, at both the within- and between-person level, daily self-compassion could positively predict daily eating behaviour through the reduction of perceived stress. However, daily self-compassion did not influence exercise behaviour at both levels. The results of 2-1-1 multilevel mediation analyses cross-validated the between-person relationships in the 1-1-1 multilevel mediation models. These results suggest that, both short-term interventions aiming at increasing state self-compassion and long-term interventions aiming at increasing trait self-compassion can benefit one's eating behaviours through the reduction of stress.     

Examining the within-person effect of affect on daily satisfaction

Assessments of global life satisfaction capture beliefs about overall well-being; state satisfaction assessments focus on short-term or “in-the-moment” appraisals of current life circumstances. Prior research has examined how trait measures of life satisfaction and affect are related at between-person and within-person levels of analysis. At the state level, however, a lack of clarity exists about the nature and magnitude of the association between satisfaction and affect. In a diary study involving assessments of both affect and satisfaction at the daily level (N = 350 with 6024 assessments), we found a consequential effect of affect on state satisfaction due to greater within-person variance over time.     

The influence of between and within-person hope among emergency responders on daily affect in a stress and coping model

This study reports on daily hope, coping, stress, and affect among 84 fire service members who completed a 21-day diary. Multilevel modeling showed that between-person hope was related to higher positive affect. Three-way interactions were found for within-person hope, stress, and daily coping in the prediction of daily affect. When under high stress and if low in hope, more emotion–expression coping predicted higher next day positive affect whereas if high in hope, more problem-focused coping predicted more positive affect. Within-person hope, stress, and emotion–expression coping interacted to predict negative affect. Findings for the prediction of negative affect necessitate further research to determine if the nature of coping under low hope and low stress is qualitatively distinct from high hope states.     

Using a Few Snapshots to Distinguish Mountains from Waves: Weak Factorial Invariance in the Context of Trait-State Research

In this article, we show that the underlying dimensions obtained when factor analyzing cross-sectional data actually form a mix of within-person state dimensions and between-person trait dimensions. We propose a factor analytical model that distinguishes between four independent sources of variance: common trait, unique trait, common state, and unique state. We show that by testing whether there is weak factorial invariance across the trait and state factor structures, we can tackle the fundamental question first raised by Cattell; that is, are within-person state dimensions qualitatively the same as between-person trait dimensions? Furthermore, we discuss how this model is related to other trait-state factor models, and we illustrate its use with two empirical data sets. We end by discussing the implications for cross-sectional factor analysis and suggest potential future developments.     

THE RELATIONS OF DAILY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR WITH EMOTIONS, SITUATIONAL ANTECEDENTS, AND PERSONALITY MODERATORS: A DIARY STUDY IN HONG KONG

In this diary study conducted in Hong Kong, we examined a theoretical model in which negative emotions serve as an explanatory mechanism through which daily stressors impact daily counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We further theorized that personality variables (negative affectivity, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness) would exert cross-level effects on the within-person relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling results based on a sample of 231 individuals and 5,583 observations across 25 days provide partial support for the mediating role of negative emotions in the within-person stressor–CWB relationships. Specifically, we found that negative emotions (a) partially mediated the within-person relation of perceived ambiguity with CWB directed at the organization, (b) fully mediated the relation of supervisor interpersonal injustice with CWB directed at individuals, and (c) fully mediated the relation of customer interpersonal injustice with CWB directed at the organization. High levels of trait negative affectivity were found to strengthen the within-person relation between daily supervisor interpersonal injustice and daily negative emotions. As expected, high levels of trait Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were found to weaken the within-person relations of daily negative emotions with daily CWB directed at the organization and individuals.     

Aggregating to the between-person level in idiographic research designs: Personal goal research as an example of the need to distinguish between reliability and homogeneity

In several areas of personality research (e.g., personal networks, interpersonal behaviour, academic effort), the empirical data represent a multilevel structure, in which within-person variables are nested within individuals. Both within-person variation and between-person differences can be related to outcome variables (e.g., emotions, life satisfaction). One major precondition for aggregating within-person data to the between-person level is sufficient reliability of the aggregated data, a point that has received scant attention in previous research. Drawing on the example of personal goal research, we recommend that the two major forms of the intraclass correlation coefficient—the ICC(1) and the ICC(2)—be applied to within-person data in idiographic research designs. These indices allow the homogeneity and reliability of within-person data to be determined separately. Their application is illustrated using data from a study with 4,565 young adults.     

A daily process approach to individual differences in stress-related alcohol use

In our research we have used a variety of daily designs (paper-and-pencil or Internet-based daily diaries, experience sampling via palmtop computers) to examine how individual differences in coping styles, alcohol-outcome expectancies, and drinking motives predict stress-related and negative affect-related alcohol use. Our work has furthered research in this area in two ways. First, we have examined how these risk factors are associated with within-person associations among temporally proximal reports of stressors, negative affect, and alcohol use. Second, we have examined whether purportedly stable individual-difference factors demonstrate meaningful within-person variation and thus also might be conceptualized as important process variables. Our findings from this line of research, along with those from new data that we present, indicate some disparities between the results found at the within-person versus the between-person levels of analysis. More importantly, this line of research offers insights into questions that could not be addressed using traditional cross-sectional or long-term longitudinal designs. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Are the sources of interest the same for everyone? Using multilevel mixture models to explore individual differences in appraisal structures

How does personality influence the relationship between appraisals and emotions? Recent research suggests individual differences in appraisal structures: people may differ in an emotion's appraisal pattern. We explored individual differences in interest's appraisal structure, assessed as the within-person covariance of appraisals with interest. People viewed images of abstract visual art and provided ratings of interest and of interest's appraisals (novelty–complexity and coping potential) for each picture. A multilevel mixture model found two between-person classes that reflected distinct within-person appraisal styles. For people in the larger class (68%), the novelty–complexity appraisal had a stronger effect on interest; for people in the smaller class (32%), the coping potential appraisal had a stronger effect. People in the larger class were significantly higher in appetitive traits related to novelty seeking (e.g., sensation seeking, openness to experience, and trait curiosity), suggesting that the appraisal classes have substantive meaning. We conclude by discussing the value of within-person mixture models for the study of personality and appraisal.     

Talking about daily emotional events: Psychological well-being moderates the intensity–disclosure link

The intensity of distressing events predicts people’s disclosure of those events at between-person and within-person levels. Depression symptoms seem to attenuate the within-person relation, but past research has not taken a multidimensional view of depression as a moderator. The authors tested whether two constructs related to depression-general psychological well-being and life satisfaction-account for depression’s moderating effects. In a daily diary study, college students (N = 116) rated the intensity of the day’s most unpleasant event and their disclosure of the event each day for 14 days. Participants completed measures of disclosure tendencies, depression symptoms, well-being, and life satisfaction prior to the diary portion of the study. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed moderating effects of disclosure tendencies and depression on the within-person intensity–disclosure relation. However, when psychological well-being and life satisfaction were entered, depression was no longer a significant moderator, but well-being was. Psychological well-being therefore determines the expression of individual differences in the disclosure of daily emotional events.     

Modelling inter-individual differences in latent within-person variation: The confirmatory factor level variability model

Psychological theories often produce hypotheses that pertain to individual differences in within-person variability. To empirically test the predictions entailed by such hypotheses with longitudinal data, researchers often use multilevel approaches that allow them to model between-person differences in the mean level of a certain variable and the residual within-person variance. Currently, these approaches can be applied only when the data stem from a single variable. However, it is common practice in psychology to assess not just a single measure but rather several measures of a construct. In this paper we describe a model in which we combine the single-indicator model with confirmatory factor analysis. The new model allows individual differences in latent mean-level factors and latent within-person variability factors to be estimated. Furthermore, we show how the model's parameters can be estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator, and we illustrate the approach using an example that involves intensive longitudinal data.     

Elucidating satisfaction with physical activity: An examination of the day-to-day associations between experiences with physical activity and satisfaction during physical activity initiation

Satisfaction with physical activity is known to be an important factor in physical activity maintenance, but the factors that influence satisfaction are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to elucidate how ongoing experiences with recently initiated physical activity are associated with satisfaction. Participants (n?=?116) included insufficiently active volunteers who initiated a self-directed physical activity regimen and completed daily diaries about their experiences for 28?days. We used multilevel models to examine the associations between experiences with physical activity and satisfaction. Significant between-person effects demonstrated that people reporting higher average levels of positive experiences and lower levels of thinking about the negative aspects of exercise were more likely to report higher levels of satisfaction (ps?<?.05). Positive experiences and perceived progress toward goals had significant within-person effects (ps?<?.01), suggesting that day-to-day fluctuations in these experiences were associated with changes in satisfaction. These findings elucidate a process through which people may determine their satisfaction with physical activity.     

Modeling trait and state variation using multilevel factor analysis with PANAS daily diary data

This study used daily diary data to model trait and state Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Data were collected from 364 college students over five days. Intraclass correlation coefficients suggested approximately equal amounts of variability at the trait and state levels. Multilevel factor analysis revealed that the model specifying two correlated factors (PA, NA) and correlated uniqueness terms among redundant items provided the best fit. Trait and state PA and NA were generally associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and three types of self-esteem (performance, academic, social). The coefficients describing these relationships differed somewhat, suggesting that trait and state measurement may have different predictive utility.     

Application of signature strengths at work: A dual-level analysis

ABSTRACT

Each individual possesses character strengths, the most significant of which are classified as signature strengths. With a sample of 164 individuals who were employed at least part-time in a variety of industries, we examined application of signature strengths and well-being both between-persons (global) and within-persons (daily). Global application of signature strengths was associated with global job satisfaction and strain; however, no significant mediation effects on intent to turnover were found. We also found that daily variations in application of signature strengths were related to daily job satisfaction and strain. Common method bias associated with trait positive and negative affect differed by level of analysis: At the between-person (global) level, trait affect produced substantial inflation of estimates, but at the within-person (daily) level, inflation was negligible. The results suggest the importance of daily opportunities to apply signature strengths and of accounting for variance attributable to trait affect in between-person analyses.     

Explanatory,Multilevel Person-Fit Analysis of Response Consistency on the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

Self-report measures are vulnerable to concentration and motivation problems, leading to responses that may be inconsistent with the respondent's latent trait value. We investigated response consistency in a sample (N = 860) of cardiac patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and their partners who completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory on five measurement occasions. For each occasion and for both the state and trait subscales, we used the l ^p _z person-fit statistic to assess response consistency. We used multilevel analysis to model the between-person and within-person differences in the repeated observations of response consistency using time-dependent (e.g., mood states) and time-invariant explanatory variables (e.g., demographic characteristics). Respondents with lower education, undergoing psychological treatment, and with more post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms tended to respond less consistently. The percentages of explained variance in response consistency were small. Hence, we conclude that the results give insight into the causes of response inconsistency but that the identified explanatory variables are of limited practical value for identifying respondents at risk of producing invalid test results. We discuss explanations for the small percentage of explained variance and suggest alternative methods for studying causes of response inconsistency.     

A procedure for evaluating sensitivity to within-person change: can mood measures in diary studies detect change reliably?

The recent growth in diary and experience sampling research has increased research attention on how people change over time in natural settings. Often however, the measures in these studies were originally developed for studying between-person differences, and their sensitivity to within-person changes is usually unknown. Using a Generalizability Theory framework, the authors illustrate a procedure for developing reliable measures of change using a version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman, 1992) shortened for diary studies. Analyzing two data sets, one composed of 35 daily reports from 68 persons experiencing a stressful examination and another composed of daily reports from 164 persons over a typical 28-day period, we demonstrate that three-item measures of anxious mood, depressed mood, anger, fatigue, and vigor have appropriate reliability to detect within-person change processes.