Preliminary evidence of diurnal rhythms in everyday behaviors associated with positive affect

The authors used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) to track within-day variability in everyday behaviors associated with positive and negative affect across two samples. The EAR is a portable audio recorder that periodically samples snippets of ambient sounds from participants’ momentary environments. The recorded sounds are then coded for different behaviors. The study tested whether previous findings regarding diurnal patterns in self-reported mood extend to naturalistically observed behavior. Across both samples, behavior associated with positive affect (i.e., socializing, laughing, and singing) varied according to a sinusoidal 24-h rhythm centered around participants’ average waketime while behavior associated with negative affect (i.e., arguing and sighing) did not. Further, there was preliminary evidence that personality traits can moderate these rhythms (e.g., their amplitude).     

The effect of security-related stress on dyadic closeness among Jews and Arabs in Israel: a daily diary study

An important aspect of Israeli life is its continuous state of conflict with the neighboring Palestinian people and Arab countries. Given that security-related stress is so intensely experienced by all Israeli residents, we examined the effects of daily fluctuations in security-related stress on dyadic closeness among Jewish and Arab couples. Time sampling approach was used to study repeated sequences of associations between stress and dyadic closeness. Data were collected from 188 Jewish and 93 Arab couples by means of daily diaries. Hierarchical multivariate linear modeling was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that stress results in increasing distance between intimate partners, but the effect varies with the level of marital quality and socioethnic affiliation.     

Daily diaries and minority adolescents: random coefficient regression modeling of attributional style, coping, and affect

Many researchers underscore the importance of coping in the daily lives of adolescents, yet very few studies measure this and related constructs at this level. Using a daily diary approach to stress and coping, the current study evaluated a series of mediational coping models in a sample of low-income minority adolescents (N = 89). Specifically, coping was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between attributional style (and dimensions) and daily affect. Using random coefficient regression modeling, the relationship between (a) the locus of causality dimension and positive affect was completely mediated by the use of acceptance and humor as coping strategies; (b) the stability dimension and positive affect was completely mediated by the use of both problem-solving and positive thinking; and (c) the stability dimension and negative affect was partially mediated by the use of religious coping. In addition, the locus of causality and stability (but not globality) dimensions were also directly related to affect. However, the relationship between pessimistic explanatory style and affect was not mediated by coping. Consistent with previous research, these findings suggest that attributions are both directly and indirectly related to indices of affect or adjustment. Thus, attributions may not only influence the type of coping strategy employed, but may also serve as coping strategies themselves.     

Implications of Family Cohesion and Conflict for Adolescent Mood and Well-Being: Examining Within- and Between-Family Processes on a Daily Timescale

Family-level conflict and cohesion are well-established predictors of adolescent mental health. However, traditional approaches focusing on between-family differences in cohesion and conflict may overlook daily intrafamily variability that might provide important new information. We used data from a 21-day daily diary protocol in a sample of 151 caregivers (95.3% female) and their adolescent child (61.5% female) in two-caregiver families to test whether daily changes in family functioning are associated with daily changes in adolescent well-being and whether adolescent well-being depends on average levels of family functioning. We examined family cohesion and conflict in relation to adolescent angry, depressed, and anxious mood, as well as happiness, life satisfaction, and meaning and purpose in life in multilevel models. Both cohesion and conflict exhibited meaningful daily variation. Adolescent-reported cohesion and conflict had unique within-family associations with all six adolescent outcomes. Models using parent reports of family functioning yielded fewer associations than models with adolescent reports; however, several findings remained. Cross-level interactions indicated that within-family variations in cohesion were only associated with adolescent depression in families with lower average levels of cohesion across days. In sum, this study provides compelling evidence that families exhibit meaningful variability from day to day and that daily variation has important implications for adolescent well-being.     

Daily relations between social perceptions and physical activity among college women

ObjectivesThere is a need to develop more effective physical activity (PA) promotion programs for college women. Theory and evidence suggest that perceptions of the social environment play a role in college women’s PA, though little is known about how these perceptions are associated with PA at the day level. The goal of this study was to examine relations between changes in college women’s daily social perceptions and objectively assessed PA over seven days.DesignDaily diary method.MethodCollege women (n = 80, M_Age = 20, M_BMI = 23.1 kg/m²) wore Fitbit wristbands and completed daily self-reports of (1) the quantity and perceived intensity of their social interactions (positive/negative), and (2) the occurrence of social comparisons (based on appearance/health/status) for seven days.ResultsMultilevel models showed daily variability in predictors and outcomes (ps < 0.0001), as well as relations between within-person changes in social perceptions and PA. Increases in negative interactions (particularly those with friends) were consistently associated with decreases in daily PA, whereas increases in positive interactions showed limited relations (srs = −0.22-0.34). Days with health comparisons were days with greater PA for women who had stronger overall interest in comparisons, but were days with less PA for women with weaker overall interest (srs = 0.22–0.33). PA did not differ between days with vs. without appearance comparisons.ConclusionsSocial perceptions show meaningful day-to-day variability and relations with college women’s daily PA, and specific associations may be useful for improving tailored interventions for college women.     

Parents d’un enfant en situation de handicap : quelles difficultés,quels besoins ?

Parents of children with disabilities are faced with daily difficulties leading to organizational complications and time constraints. They are at risk of developing distress that requires support. The objective was to understand the difficulties encountered in daily life and in the moments initially devoted to rest. Information on the organization and daily difficulties and during rest periods, as well as the desired assistance, is collected from parents of children, adolescents or adults with disabilities through a dual quantitative and qualitative approach. Five classes identified daily difficulties and six classes defined difficulties associated with rest time. Requests for assistance (via the Internet, structures, allowances or relatives) have been developed. In addition, a thematic analysis identified three main themes: reasons for lack of support, barriers to access to support and wishes for support. The chronicity of the above-mentioned difficulties and the time-consuming tasks do have consequences on the parents’ personal life, even when the child grows up. They expressed their wish to benefit from home help, which seems to be the most appropriate in relation to the daily workload.     

Perceptual negativity predicts greater reactivity to negative events in daily life

Reinforcement sensitivity theory includes the idea that people differ in their sensitivity to negative events, but relevant process-based assessments have not been developed. The present studies assessed sensitivity to negative events in terms of the extent to which negative word stimuli were perceived to be larger than neutral word stimuli. There was a general tendency to overestimate the size of negative relative to neutral words, but individuals differed substantially in this form of what is termed perceptual negativity. Of more importance, two studies (total N = 151) found systematic relationships between individual differences in perceptual negativity and reactivity to negative events in daily diary protocols. Study 1 found that within-person variations in the occurrence of daily negative events undermined goal-related optimism to a greater extent at higher, relative to lower, levels of perceptual negativity. Study 2 conceptually replicated this interaction in the context of within-person associations between the occurrence of daily negative events and antisocial behavior. These findings are important in advancing reinforcement sensitivity theory, in operationalizing a particular component of it, and in extending it to reactivity processes in daily life.     

Emotional inertia contributes to depressive symptoms beyond perseverative thinking

The autocorrelation or inertia of negative affect reflects how much negative emotions carry over from moment to moment and has been associated with increased depressive symptoms. In this study, we posed three challenges to this association by examining: (1) whether emotional inertia is relevant for depressive symptoms when assessed on a longer timescale than usual; (2) whether inertia is uniquely related to depressive symptoms after controlling for perseverative thoughts; and (3) whether inertia is related to depressive symptoms over and above the within-person association between affect and perseverative thoughts. Participants (N = 101) provided ratings of affect and perseverative thoughts for 100 days; depressive symptoms were reported before and after the study, and again after 2.5 years. Day-to-day emotional inertia was related to depressive symptoms over and above trait and state perseverative thoughts. Moreover, inertia predicted depressive symptoms when adjusting for its association with perseverative thoughts. These findings establish the relevance of emotional inertia in depressive symptoms independent of perseverative thoughts.     

Daily experiences and well-being: Do memories of events matter?

Retrospective subjective well-being (SWB) refers to self-reported satisfaction and emotional experience over the past few weeks or months. Two studies investigated the mechanisms linking daily experiences to retrospective SWB. Participants reported events each day for 21 days (Study 1) or twice a week for two months (Study 2). The emotional intensity of each event was rated: (1) when it had recently occurred (proximal intensity); and (2) at the end of the event-reporting period (distal intensity). Both sets of ratings were then aggregated across events and used to predict retrospective SWB at the end of the study. Path analyses showed that proximal intensity predicted retrospective SWB whereas distal intensity did not. The effect remained even after controlling for trait happiness and neuroticism. These results suggest that daily experiences influence retrospective SWB primarily through abstract representations of the past few weeks or months (as measured by aggregated proximal intensity ratings) rather than the explicit recollection of individual events during the same period (as measured by aggregated distal intensity ratings). Retrospective SWB, in turn, mediated the effect of daily experiences on global SWB (i.e., self-reported satisfaction and emotional experiences in general).     

Trait anger moderates the impact of anger-associated rumination on social well-being

In this study, we examined whether people’s social well-being is influenced by hostile versus nonhostile goals that people report pursuing when experiencing anger-associated rumination. Moreover, we investigated the impact of trait anger and trait anger rumination on the relationship between anger rumination and perceived social well-being. Participants were 93 students who were equipped with hand-held computers for 28 days to assess anger-related rumination and its social consequences in daily life. Results showed that hostile goal pursuit per se did not affect perceived social well-being. However, impairment of social well-being following hostile rumination was moderated by trait anger. Findings are consistent with recent cognitive models of trait anger and anger rumination.