Method Tutorial

Retention of emerging adult sexual minority men (SMM) in longitudinal studies including biospecimens collection is often poor. To date, very few methodological examinations exist pertaining to strategies that may increase retention among potentially difficult-to-reach populations, including emerging adult SMM. This chapter describes a multifaceted financial incentive (FI) structure utilized in two daily diary study designs. First, the chapter discusses why typical FI structures may be insufficient for retaining emerging adult SMM in intensive longitudinal study designs due to factors such as increased participant burden. Second, it details two FI approaches utilized in two 5-day daily diary studies examining stress physiology and health behaviors among emerging adult SMM in the Midwest and the Northeast. Last, it discusses how the differing FI structures impacted participation and retention across the two studies. The chapter concludes by providing future directions to researchers who seek to employ intensive longitudinal study designs in emerging adult populations.

How Do People Experience and Respond to Social Control From Their Partner? Three Daily Diary Studies

Positive and negative forms of social control are commonly used to regulate another person’s health-related behaviors, especially in couples. Social control efforts have been shown to result in desirable, but also undesirable effects on different outcomes. Little is known for which outcomes, when, and under which contextual conditions these different effects unfold in people’s everyday lives. Using the dual-effects model of health-related social control, we predicted that same-day and previous-day positive social control would result in desirable effects on target behavior, and same-day positive control on affect. Same-day and previous-day negative control was assumed to result in undesirable effects on reactant responses (i.e., doing the opposite of what the partner wanted and hiding the unhealthy behavior), and same-day negative control on affect. Further, we explored whether it makes a difference if one or both partners intend to change their health behavior. Three daily diary studies addressed these questions for smoking (Studies 1 and 2), and physical activity (Study 3). Receiving more positive control related to more desirable target behavior, and feeling better; more negative control was associated with more reactant responses and feeling worse. Social control unfolded its effects within 1 day, but hardly across days, indicating that control and its reactions to it are fast-acting processes in daily life. The pattern of results were the same for couples with one and both partners intending to change their behavior. Further, results replicated when using partner-reported provided control. Based on these results, social control cannot be unanimously recommended as a behavior change strategy in couples. Future studies should follow up on dyadic and temporal dynamics of social control in couples’ everyday lives in different contexts.

On the Interpersonal Function of Metaphor Use

Empathy and perspective taking play important roles in interpersonal functioning. As prior research has linked metaphor use to emotional understanding, it is likely that metaphor use is also involved in empathy and perspective taking. In two daily diary studies ( N = 225; Obs. = 1,849), we predicted that on days in which empathy and perspective taking were high, participants would also report higher metaphor use. In Study 1, we found support for our hypotheses, such that daily metaphor use was positively associated with daily empathy and perspective taking. In Study 2, we replicated these results. We place this work within the current literature and discuss the promise of an interpersonal function of metaphor use.

A Dyadic Perspective of Felt Security: Does Partners’ Security Buffer the Effects of Actors’ Insecurity on Daily Commitment?

Interdependence and attachment models have identified felt security as a critical foundation for commitment by orientating individuals towards relationship-promotion rather than self-protection. However, partners’ security also signals the relative safety to commit to relationships. The current investigation adopted a dyadic perspective to examine whether partners’ security acts as a strong link by buffering the negative effects of actors’ insecurity on daily commitment. Across two daily diary studies (Study 1, N = 78 dyads and Study 2, N = 73 dyads), actors’ X partners’ daily felt security interactions revealed a strong-link pattern: lower actors’ felt security on a given day predicted lower daily commitment, but these reductions were mitigated when partners reported higher levels of felt security that day. Actors’ X partners’ trait insecurity (attachment anxiety) interaction also showed this strong-link pattern in Study 1 but not Study 2. The results suggest that partners’ felt security can help individuals experiencing insecurity overcome their self-protective impulses and feel safe enough to commit to their relationship on a daily basis.

Experience Sampling and Daily Diary Studies: Basic Concepts, Designs, and Challenges.pdf

Experience sampling and daily diary methods have become increasingly popular among psychologists. The repeated assessment of persons in their daily lives allows capturing how a person feels, thinks, or behaves or what he or she desires in the very moment. The current chapter describes basic concepts of experience sampling studies, gives an overview of possible designs and challenges that may be encountered when setting up the first experience sampling study. To overcome these challenges, three basic questions can be answered: (A) What is the construct being measured? (B) What is the purpose of the measure? (C) What is the targeted population of persons and situations? Finally, practical advice is given on how to think through and pilot test an experience sampling study before data collection begins.

IS THE PATH EASIER ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE? OPTIMISM AND DAILY STRESS PROCESSES ACROSS 16 YEARS

Accumulating evidence supports optimism as a health asset, yet little is known about underlying pathways. This study evaluates the long-term influence of optimism on exposure and affective reactivity to daily stressors. The sample comprised 233 community-dwelling men who completed a validated measure of optimism in 1986 (age: M=59, SD=6), and participated in up to three 8-day daily diary studies between 2002-10. Daily stressor occurrence, end-of-day positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) were assessed nightly in the diary studies. Results from multilevel structural equation modeling showed that optimism was unrelated to affective stress reactivity. However, higher optimism preceded lower overall NA and higher overall PA. Lower daily stressor exposure mediated the association from optimism to lower NA (indirect effect: B=-0.26, 95% Bayesian CI: -0.48, -0.09), but it did not account for the optimism-PA association. Our findings add to knowledge on pathways by which optimism promotes affective well-being in old age.