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Adolescents’ Daily Perception of Internalizing Emotional States by Means of Smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2017

Teresa Kirchner ,
Ernesto Magallón-Neri ,
Manuel S. Ortiz ,
Irina Planellas ,
María Forns  and
Caterina Calderón
Teresa Kirchner*
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).
Ernesto Magallón-Neri
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).
Manuel S. Ortiz
Affiliation:
Universidad de la Frontera (Chile)
Irina Planellas
Affiliation:
Rehastet Medical Center (Spain)
María Forns
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).
Caterina Calderón
Affiliation:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Teresa Kirchner. Departamento de Psicología Clínica y Psicobiología de la Universitat de Barcelona. Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron, 171. 08035 Barcelona (Spain). E-mail: tkirchner@ub.edu
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Abstract

This study uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) with smartphone devices to examine community adolescents’ perceptions regarding both the intensity of and variability in their daily sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems over the period of one week. Participants were 90 high-school students (Mage = 14.61, SD = 1.64; range 12–18). The sample was divided according to gender (61.1% girls), migratory status (68.5% Spanish nationals and 31.5% Latin American immigrants), and level of psychological symptoms (17% risk group). Sadness/depression, anxiety, and somatic problems were examined using a smartphone app, five times per day, semi-randomly, for seven days (35 possible moments). A high proportion of adolescents did not report feelings of sadness (80.0%) or worry (79.3%) or physical symptoms on a daily basis (84.9%). Girls and the risk group reported greater intensity levels for the three analyzed problems than did boys and the normal group, respectively (p < .001 in all cases). Migratory status was not associated with any significant differences in the analyzed problems over the one-week period (p > .05 in all cases). Day-to-day fluctuations in mood during the week were statistically significant but not meaningful (b = 0.0004, 95% CI [0.0001, 0.0008], p = .001).

Keywords

anxietydaily mood states fluctuationsecological momentary assessmentsadness/depressionsomatic problems
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 20 , 2017 , E71
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017 

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Footnotes

This study forms part of a research project examining vulnerability to psychopathology among adolescents in situations of psychosocial risk, which has received funding from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad: National Program for Promoting Excellence in Scientific and Technical Research, within the framework of the National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation; Project: PSI2013–46392–P. We thank Professor Joan Guardia for his suggestions on different aspects of the research.

How to cite this article:

Kircher, T., Magallón-Neri, E., Ortiz, M. S., Planellas, I., Forns, M., & Calderón, C. (2017). Adolescents’ daily perception of internalizing emotional states by means of smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 20. e71. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2017.70

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