Advancing multi-timeframe developmental research through combining long-term cohort and ecological momentary assessment studies: The Decades-to-minutes (D2M) study

Abstract

Within developmental science, there is a gap between our understanding of long-term ‘developmental’ processes, investigated via traditional longitudinal cohort designs, and our understanding of short-term ‘momentary’ processes, investigated via lab-based studies or, increasingly, via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods. To bridge this gap, multi-timeframe studies that link momentary processes to long-term developmental trajectories are needed. One promising approach is to embed studies of momentary processes within long-term cohort studies. This is the design of the decades-to-minutes (D2M) study, which combines a burst of EMA (n=255 young adult participants) with a 13-year longitudinal cohort study of development from childhood through to adulthood. Here we describe the rationale for, and design of D2M and provide an illustrative dynamic structural equation modelling analysis from the data. We also provide suggestions for future developments in the design and implementation of multi-timeframe studies. We conclude that embedding EMA within existing longitudinal studies is an efficient, feasible and scientifically valuable approach to studying development across multiple timescales and suggest that future studies of this type on a larger scale would be valuable for the field.

Psychometric evaluation of an adapted version of the perceived stress scale for ecological momentary assessment research

“…The Decades‐to‐Minutes (D2M) study (see Murray, Speyer, et al., 2022) took place shortly after the age 20 main wave of z‐proso in 2018. During the data collection for this z‐proso wave, participants were invited to take part in an additional EMA sub‐study.…”

Respondent characteristics associated with adherence in a general population ecological momentary assessment study

“…Participants were n = 255 young adults from the ‘Decades‐to‐minutes’ (D2M) sub‐study (Murray et al., 2020) of the longitudinal Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z‐proso; Ribeaud et al., 2022). D2M is an EMA sub‐study that aims to illuminate the long‐term developmental and daily life proximal influences on mental health and behaviour problems (Murray, Speyer, et al., 2022). Z‐proso began in 2004 when participants were aged 7 and used a stratified random sampling procedure to select schools from Zurich, Switzerland.…”

“…Previous analyses have explicitly compared D2M to the broader z‐proso cohort and suggested that the D2M sub‐sample is slightly higher in socioeconomic status (SES) and lower in aggression but higher in stress (Murray, Speyer, et al., 2022). The sub‐sample does not, however, appear to differ from the main z‐proso sample on a range of other characteristics, including ADHD symptom levels, internalising problems, and substance use (Murray, Speyer, et al., 2022).…”

“…Given the importance of illuminating the predictors of EMA adherence—especially predictors related to mental health itself—in mental health research, the current study thus aims to provide a more comprehensive exploration of the sociodemographic, mental health, and broader psychosocial well‐being factors that may be related to non‐response within EMA paradigms. We use data from the D2M study (Murray, Speyer, et al., 2022) which has a relatively standard EMA design (Wrzus & Neubauer, 2023), sampling young people (aged 21 at the time of data collection) from the general population and administering smartphone‐based EMA surveys four times per day over a 14‐day period. We leverage the fact that participants in this EMA study also completed comprehensive survey measures prior to their participation that can be used to predict their adherence to the EMA protocol.…”

The role of student–teacher relationships in the association between negative parenting practices and emotion dynamics – Combining longitudinal and ecological momentary assessment data

“…The goal of the present study is thus to explore the association between negative parenting practices in childhood, student–teacher relationships in adolescence, and NA, EI and EL in young adulthood employing methods that overcome the limitations of previous studies by using longitudinal and ecologically valid data from the longitudinal Zurich Project on the Social Development form Childhood to Adulthood (z‐proso; Ribeaud et al, 2022) and its EMA sub‐study, Decades‐to‐Minutes (D2M; Murray et al, 2022). The EMA data will be used in conjunction with longitudinal measures to build a trajectory of the etiology of NA, EI and EL using a DSEM model.…”