Using Bi‐Weekly Surveys to Portray Adolescent Partnership Dynamics: Lessons From a Mobile Diary Study

Abstract

Partnership formation is an important developmental task for adolescents, but cross‐sectional and periodic longitudinal studies have lacked the measurement precision to portray partnership stability and flux and to capture the range of adolescent partnership experiences. This article assesses the promises and challenges of using bi‐weekly mobile diaries administered over the course of a year to study adolescent partnership dynamics. Descriptive findings illustrate the potential of bi‐weekly diaries for both capturing the longitudinal complexity and fluidity of adolescent partnerships as well as for reducing retrospection biases. Results also underscore several challenges, including those posed by missing data, and highlight several strategies for maximizing participant engagement and reliably tracing adolescent partnerships.

Experiencing Sampling Research from Its Beginnings into the Future

“…This finding has direct implications for how practitioners coach teens about expressing anger. In the near future, I suspect, Goldberg, Koffman, and Tienda (this issue) may be employing micro‐longitudinal analyses to examine sequential processes in the churning, “fizzling,” and transitions within teens’ partner relationships. One key to these AA studies with adults has been use of a specific event or experience (e.g., a stressor, strong emotion, type of social interaction) as an anchor point for analyzing what precedes and follows it (Shiffman, ).…”

The Practicalities and Perils of Ambulatory Assessment's Promise: Introduction to a Special Section

“…Inventive proposals for addressing these translational challenges include providing multiple response parameters. For instance, when tapping teens’ romantic interests or relationships, scholars might provide a range of response parameters, including “talking,” “flirting,” and “friends with benefits” in addition to dating (Goldberg, Koffman, & Tienda, ).…”

“…In another notable example of scholars working to track complex adolescent processes over time, Goldberg et al. () share the philosophy and design details behind the ambitious mDiary study. Seeking to illuminate the knotty dynamics of adolescents’ often unstable romantic and sexual partnerships (Collins, Welsh, & Furman, ; Giordano, ; Goldberg & Tienda, ), Goldberg and colleagues administered biweekly mobile‐optimized diaries for a full year to participants in a larger birth cohort study.…”

Using Paradata to Evaluate Youth Participation in a Digital Diary Study

“…Teens are prolific users of digital technology (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Rideout, 2015), but evidence about their participation in panel studies is both limited and inconsistent, particularly for designs that involve frequent measurements over several months (Boys et al, 2003; Goldberg et al, 2019; Halpern et al, 1994; Powers & Loxton, 2010). Rideout (2015) reports that two thirds of adolescents owned a smartphone, with ownership rates ranging from 65% for teens from families with low annual incomes (<US $35,000) to 94% among youth from high-income families (US $100,000+).…”