Assessment of stress and its relationship with health behaviour in daily life: a systematic review
Abstract
ABSTRACT Stress influences health behaviours critical for preventing non-communicable diseases. Although research on the stress-health behaviour relationship in daily life has grown, a synthesis of measures and findings is lacking. This systematic review examines stress measures used in intensive longitudinal studies in daily life, their reliability and associations with health behaviours. We included studies measuring self-reported (cognitive appraisal-based) or physiological stress in daily life alongside health behaviours including eating, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. We excluded studies on physical stress, mood, laboratory-induced stress, non-English publications, and animal studies. Study quality was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Tool. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched 2,333 records from PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science, leading to 100 included studies with 18,122 participants. Narrative synthesis of results showed that self-reported stress measures dominated (94.5%), while physiological measures were underrepresented (5.5%). Stress was linked to unhealthier behaviours (30.2%), healthier behaviours (14.1%), or was not associated with health behaviour (55.7%), depending on conceptual, methodology, and sample characteristics. Notably, physiological stress predominantly correlated with healthier behaviours, while self-reported stress predominantly related to unhealthier behaviours. Low study quality limit…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 18,122 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
- Tocilizumab in patients with severe COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study
- A new aging measure captures morbidity and mortality risk across diverse subpopulations from NHANES IV: A cohort study
- Fruit, vegetable, and legume intake, and cardiovascular disease and deaths in 18 countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study
- Are noise and air pollution related to the incidence of dementia? A cohort study in London, England
- Long COVID symptoms and duration in SARS-CoV-2 positive children — a nationwide cohort study
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.