Effects of Chronic Burden Across Multiple Domains and Experiences of Daily Stressors on Negative Affect

Background: Exposure to chronic psychological stress across multiple life domains (multi-domain chronic burden) is associated with poor health. This may be because multi-domain chronic burden influences daily-level emotional processes, though this hypothesis has not been thoroughly tested. Purpose: The current study tested whether (a) multi-domain chronic burden is associated with greater exposure to daily stressors and (b) multi-domain chronic burden compounds negative affect on days with stressors compared to stressor-free days. Methods: The MIDUS Study (Wave II) and the National Study of Daily Experiences sub-study were conducted from 2004 to 2006 (N = 2,022). Participants reported on eight life domains of psychological stress used to create a multi-domain chronic burden summary score. For eight consecutive days, participants reported the daily occurrence of stressful events and daily negative affect. Results: Participants with greater multi-domain chronic burden were significantly more likely to report daily stressors. There was also a significant interaction between multi-domain chronic burden and daily stressors on negative affect: participants with higher multi-domain chronic burden had greater negative affect on stressor days than stressor-free days compared to those with lower multi-domain chronic burden. Conclusion: Participants with higher multi-domain chronic burden were more likely to report daily stressors and there was a compounding effect of multi-domain chronic burden and daily stressors on negative affect. These results suggest that experiencing a greater amount of psychological stress across multiple life domains may make daily stressors more toxic for daily affect.