title: Daily emotional stress reactivity in emerging adulthood: temporal stability and its predictors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Emotional reactivity to stress is associated with both mental and physical health and has been assumed to be a stable feature of the person. However, recent evidence suggests that the within-person association between stress and negative affect (i.e., affective stress-reactivity) may increase over time and in times of high stress, at least in older adult populations. The objective of the current study was to examine the across-time stability of stress-reactivity in a younger sample - emerging adulthood - and examine neuroticism, overall stress, social support and life events as potential moderators of stability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Undergraduate students (N = 540, mean age = 18.76 years) participated in a measurement burst design, completing a 30-day daily diary annually for four years. Moderators were assessed once at every burst, while negative affect and stress were assessed daily via a secure website.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest a relatively high degree of rank-order and mean-level stability in stress-reactivity across the four years, and within-person changes in neuroticism and overall stress predicted concurrent shifts in stress-reactivity. Unlike older samples, there was no evidence of an overall linear change in stability over time, though there was significant variability in linear change trajectories.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Community Medicine and Healthcare , University of Connecticut Health Center , Farmington , CT , USA.
authors.forename: Maryhope
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Howland
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , Fairleigh Dickinson University , Teaneck , NJ , USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Armeli
authors.affiliation: c Department of Medical Sciences , Quinnipiac University School of Medicine , Hamden , CT , USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feinn
authors.affiliation: a Department of Community Medicine and Healthcare , University of Connecticut Health Center , Farmington , CT , USA.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tennen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013995:Time; D014495:Universities
keywords: Stress; emerging adulthood; emotion; longitudinal change; stress-reactivity