A Daily Diary Study of Adolescents’ Academic Stress, Physical and Psychological Well-Being, and the Moderating Effect of Family Affluence

Abstract

Although evidence suggests that daily experiences of stress can be detrimental for adolescents, there is a lack of systematic research that methodologically takes into account the fluctuating nature of daily stress. To address this gap, the present study used a daily diary method to examine daily psychological (i.e., feelings of happiness, anxiety, and depression) and physical well-being (i.e., fatigue and sleep quality) every evening, particularly in the day-to-day context of academic stress across the period of seven days among 164 eighth graders in Korea. Same-day and lagged-day associations between academic stress and physical and psychological well-being were examined. Variations in these daily associations by gender and family socioeconomic characteristics were also considered. Results showed that on days in which adolescents experienced more academic stress they were not only more depressed and anxious, but also felt more tired and slept less well. The effect of academic stress was more enduring for fatigue and sleep quality, but not for indicators of psychological well-being. Also, adolescents from families of low affluence reported greater fatigue than their more affluent peers on days when they experienced more academic stress. The scholarly and practical implications of the main findings are discussed.