# An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Adolescents' Response to Targeted Rejection/Humiliation in Daily Life

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2020 · $45,520

## Abstract

Adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to depression and increased flux in interpersonal
relationships. Interpersonal stress is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent depression. Interpersonal
stressors involving targeted rejection and humiliation, in which an individual is rejected and their social status is
threatened, are especially potent predictors of depression in adults. However, there are several gaps in our
understanding of the impact of targeted rejection/humiliation on adolescents’ depressed mood. First, we lack
knowledge of important descriptive information about the nature of these events in daily life during adolescence,
including their frequency, severity, and with whom they occur. Second, it is unknown how targeted
rejection/humiliation experiences affect momentary change in depressed mood as compared to long-term
change in depression symptoms. Third, age and gender differences in momentary responses to targeted
rejection/humiliation remain underexplored. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is an ideal methodology
with which to examine these questions about adolescents’ momentary and longitudinal changes in depressed
mood and depression symptoms in response to targeted rejection/humiliation in the flow of daily life. The
proposed study will use EMA in a longitudinal design to (1) descriptively characterize adolescents’ targeted
rejection/humiliation experiences in peer and parent-child relationships; (2) examine how targeted
rejection/humiliation in these relationships differentially predicts momentary and longitudinal change in
depressed mood and symptoms relative to other forms of interpersonal and non-interpersonal stressors; and (3)
investigate age and gender differences in targeted rejection/humiliation, and whether age and gender interact
with these experiences to predict momentary and longitudinal change in depressed mood and symptoms.
Adolescents (N=180) will complete measures of depression and stressful life events at a baseline visit, followed
by a 9-day EMA protocol assessing experience of interpersonal stressors and depressed mood; participants will
repeat both the baseline visit and EMA protocol at a 6-month follow-up. It is hypothesized that targeted
rejection/humiliation will predict momentary and longitudinal increases in depressed mood and symptoms. By
using EMA methods and sophisticated analyses, results from the proposed project will address longstanding
theoretical issues of adolescence as a period of “storm and stress,” and identify targets for more effective
depression prevention and intervention. The hands-on experience gained through this project and training plan
will advance the development of the applicant as an independent scientist who investigates how the experience
of interpersonal stress contributes to the development and maintenance of internalizing problems during
adolescence. The execution of this study, combined with the training activities and consultation with
collaborato...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9990436
- **Project number:** 1F31MH123059-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Erin Elizabeth Long
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $45,520
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9990436

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9990436, An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Adolescents' Response to Targeted Rejection/Humiliation in Daily Life (1F31MH123059-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9990436. Licensed CC0.

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