# Daily Associations between Psychological Well-Being and Relationship Functioning among African Americans

> **NIH NIH F31** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · 2020 · $36,237

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
African Americans experience persistent disparities in mental health and intimate relationship adjustment
relative to other racial and ethnic groups. There are well-documented associations between individual
psychological well-being (PWB) and relationship functioning (RF) in the general U.S. population, but little is
known about how these constructs are related among African Americans specifically or how sociocultural
stress (e.g., discrimination, adverse residential quality) may impact these associations. A study led by the
applicant demonstrated that depressive symptoms and relationship satisfaction are associated over a 1-year
span among African American couples and that the nature of these associations differs by discrimination and
by gender. The links between PWB and RF found over long time scales (e.g., months to years) likely reflect the
accumulation of experiences that occur on a day-to-day basis, but no prior work has examined (a) the
associations between PWB and RF measured at the daily level among African Americans or (b) how these
daily linkages relate to longer-term psychological distress. The aims of the current study are to (1) model the
cross-day linkages between PWB and RF among African Americans and assess the directionality of the PWB-
RF relation, (2) examine the extent to which the PWB-RF relation is moderated by sociocultural stress and
gender, and (3) use the linkages between PWB-RF found at the daily level to predict long-term psychological
distress. The proposed study will use data collected as part of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE)
substudy of the Midlife in the United States study for which F31 Co-Sponsor Dr. David Almeida is the Project
Leader. The NSDE included daily assessments of positive and negative relationship events and positive and
negative affect over an 8-day span. Using a subsample of 119 married or cohabitating African Americans, data
will be analyzed in a multilevel modeling framework to test the effect of prior day RF on subsequent day PWB
as well as the effect of prior day PWB on subsequent day RF (Aim 1). Sociocultural stress (discrimination,
adverse residential quality) and gender will be examined as moderators of the PWB-RF cross-day relation (Aim
2). Daily relationship reactivity and daily well-being reactivity will also be tested as predictors of psychological
distress a decade later (Aim 3). This project, which directly aligns with the mission of the NIMHD, will help to
elucidate daily processes that may contribute to disparities in psychological and relationship health for African
Americans and inform interventions designed to improve long-term psychological health and relational
outcomes in this population. The applicant will receive multi-disciplinary training from leading experts at Penn
State University in the intersection of individual psychological well-being and relationship adjustment, daily
stress processes, minority health disparities, and intens...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9992474
- **Project number:** 1F31MD015215-01
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** August Jenkins
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $36,237
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9992474

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9992474, Daily Associations between Psychological Well-Being and Relationship Functioning among African Americans (1F31MD015215-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9992474. Licensed CC0.

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