This is the second amended renewal application (A2) for grant R01 AG21147 titled """"""""Self-Concept Organization across the Adult Life Span."""""""" Funding is sought for a 5-year period. The application focuses on the longitudinal investigation of risk (self-concept incoherence-SCI) and resilience factors (personal control and age) in the daily stress process. The proposed study has four specific aims: (1) To conduct a 7-year follow-up to examine the long-term stability of SCI and its associations with physical and psychological health outcomes: Findings from the first 30-day study suggest that SCI represents a risk factor when individuals experience daily stress.
This aim focuses on the 7-year stability of SCI and examines the extent to which SCI predicts Time 2 outcomes after initial levels of functioning have been controlled. This will be the first prospective study examining the long-term associations of SCI with physical and psychological health outcomes. (2) To examine the extent to which short-term intraindividual variability (IIV) in behavior is predictive of long- term intraindividual change (IIC): Most studies on the effects of IIV in behavior are concurrent and do not examine to what extent short-term IIV is predictive of long-term IIC. Yet, data from a small number of studies suggest that IIV in specific behavioral domains (e.g., mood, affect, or personal control) significantly predicts developmental change and outcomes, including physical health and mortality.
This aim focuses on examining to what extent short-term IIV in daily stress, control, affect and self-representations predicts outcomes 7 years later.
This aim also examines whether the association between short-term IIV and long-term IIC differs by age. (3) To conduct a second measurement burst, expanding the daily assessments to obtain more detailed data on positive emotions: The follow-up will include a second assessment of IIV over a 30-day period, implementing a repeated measurement burst design. Use of a repeated measurement burst design permits the examination of the following two questions: (1) To what extent is IIV in behavior itself a stable individual difference variable? and (2) to what extent do individual differences in IIV vary by age? The follow-up will also include a more detailed assessment of positive events and positive emotions. This will permit a more focused examination of the extent to which variation in positive affect is coupled with variation in negative affect and whether this coupling is moderated by stress and risk and resilience factors. (4) To collect data on a second cohort of adults. Data on a second non-clinical sample (NCS) and a second clinical sample (CS) will be collected. This data collection will replicate the research design of Wave 1 and will include 240 adults in the NCS (80 young, 80 middle-aged and 80 older adults, with men and women equally represented) and 80 adults in the CS (40 women treated for breast cancer;40 men treated for prostate cancer). The samples will have the same key characteristics as the samples established in Wave 1.
This project investigates the role of personal risk and resilience factors in the context of daily stress and in long-term physical and psychological health. The primary risk factor investigated is self-concept incoherence (SCI). The two resilience factors studied are personal control and age. Findings from a 30-day diary study with adults, ranging in age from 18 to 88, have shown that a more incoherent self-concept is associated with greater behavioral volatility in the context of daily stress. These findings suggest that SCI may be an indicator of vulnerability, whereas personal control and age tend to be protective factors.
| Diehl, Manfred; Hooker, Karen (2013) Adult Personality Development: Dynamics and Processes. Res Hum Dev 10:1-8 |
| Diehl, Manfred; Hay, Elizabeth L; Chui, Helena (2012) Personal Risk and Resilience Factors in the Context of Daily Stress. Annu Rev Gerontol Geriatr 32:251-274 |
| Hay, Elizabeth L; Diehl, Manfred (2011) Emotion complexity and emotion regulation across adulthood. Eur J Ageing 8:157-168 |
