Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher 1): Daily Diary Project, 2012-2014

The MIDUS Refresher Daily Diary Project (aka National Study of Daily Experiences or NSDE) contains data from 782 respondents. The purpose of the Daily Stress Project was to examine how sociodemographic factors, health status, personality characteristics, and genetic endowment modify patterns of change in exposure to day-to-day life stressors as well as physical and emotional reactivity to these stressors. The primary aims were: To describe how the links between multiple aspects of daily stressors (e.g., frequency, content, severity) and daily physical and emotional well-being change over ten years during adulthood; To examine how sociodemographic factors and personality characteristics influence change in both exposure to as well as changes in physical and emotional reactivity to daily stressors; To investigate how exposure and reactivity to daily stressors correlate with physiological indicators of physical health and predict changes in global health reports; and To explore the relative genetic and environmental influences mediating change in exposure and physical and emotional reactivity to daily stressors throughout adulthood. The Daily Diary study is comprised of a subsample of the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) Refresher, a national survey of nearly 3,600 Americans (aged 25 to 75) conducted during 2011-2014. The MIDUS Refresher survey was designed to replenish the original MIDUS 1 baseline cohort and allow the examination of period effects on health (mental and physical) related to the economic recession by comparing the pre-recession MIDUS 1 sample with the post-recession MIDUS Refresher sample. Guiding hypotheses, at the most general level, were that behavioral and psychosocial factors are consequential for health (physical and mental). Demographic variables in this collection include sex and age.