The Digital Stress Spiral: A Multilevel Vector Autoregressive (mlVAR) Investigation of Online Pressure, Social Comparison, and Concentration Difficulties

Abstract: This dataset comprises intensive longitudinal data collected via the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) from 132 university students over 8 days (3 beeps/day). Containing 2836 valid observations, the study tracks the dynamic interplay of digital stress, online pressure, social comparison, focusing problems, psychological detachment, and happiness. All momentary variables were assessed using single-item Visual Analog Scales (VAS 0-100). The data structure is optimized for Multilevel Vector Autoregression (mlVAR) and dynamic network analysis to explore temporal relationships between digital connectedness and cognitive well-being.