Tracking young people's responses to daily hassles
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tracking young people's responses to daily hassles - The impact of developmental factors on stress reactivity.
IRAS ID
181219
Contact name
Laura Maclean
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The way in which we respond to daily hassles has been argued to be a vulnerability factor for the development of mental health problems. This finding has been replicated with participants experiencing a broad range of mental health difficulties such as psychosis, depression and bipolar disorder. This study aims to build on previous research and explore the way young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis regulate their emotions and respond to daily hassles. To do this, participants will be asked to track their emotions and activities over six days while they are in everyday situations. To the authors knowledge, this will be the first time daily stress reactivity has been explored in a group of young people experiencing psychosis in Scotland. The core aim of the project is to examine whether developmental factors influence the way young people respond to daily hassles or stresses; and whether these factors relate to young people's experiences of psychosis and how they regulate their emotions.
Participants will be aged between 16-35 years old and will be in touch with NHS services for a first episode of psychosis. Participants will be asked to complete questions about their emotions and how they manage them over one week. Participants will meet with the researcher at the beginning and end of this week to complete the study measures including 2 interviews and 3 questionnaires examining aspects of mental health wellbeing.
Summary of Results
Tracking young people’s responses to daily hassles: The impact of developmental factors on stress reactivity.
The way in which people respond to daily stressors has been argued to be a risk factor for the development of mental health problems. Previous research has shown that an increased sensitivity to stress has been demonstrated in people with experiences of psychosis (e.g. Collip et al., 2013; Myin-Germeys et al., 2009). In this study, an increased sensitivity to stress was defined as an increase in negative affect and a decrease in positive affect in relation to everyday stressors.
This study aimed to explore whether the way young people respond to daily hassles was related to how they manage their emotions (emotion regulation) and experiences of psychosis. To do this, participants with experiences of psychosis were asked to complete the experience sampling method (ESM) which allows for real-time data to be collected while individuals are in their everyday environments. Participants were aged between 16 – 35 and were in contact with clinical services in Lothian. Participants completed the ESM over one week and were asked to complete questions about their emotions and how they manage their feelings. In addition to completing the ESM, participants were asked to complete questionnaires and interviews with the researcher about their experiences of their mental health.
Results demonstrated that young people with experiences of psychosis reported using suppression and rumination as ways to manage their emotions in everyday life. In addition, experiences of psychosis were related to the way young people responded to social stress in daily life. Findings of this study suggest that emotion regulation may be a potential target for intervention to explore whether this could reduce the impact of social stress in daily life.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
16/SS/0049
Date of REC Opinion
18 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion