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What is Health and Human Development?

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David Almeida
David M. Almeida
Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Summary Statement

Daily stress processes; adult development; family factors in mental health; work and family linkages; fatherhood; statistical techniques for measuring change.

Department
  • Human Development and Family Studies - HDFS
  • Research
  • Family Development
  • Adulthood and Aging
  • Methodology
  • Graduate Program
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Education
  • B.A., 1987, Psychology, California State University, Northridge
  • M.A., 1990, Psychology, University of Victoria
  • Ph.D., 1993, Psychology, University of Victoria
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Currently Accepting Graduate Students
Phone
Office Address
403 BBH Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Professional Experience

2007-present: Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University.

2004 - 2007: Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University.

2003 - Visiting Scholar, Institute on Education, University of London, United Kingdom

2002-2003: Visiting Scholar, Institute on Aging, University of Wisconsin, Madison

2000 - 2003: Associate Professor, Division of Family Studies and Human Development, School of Family and Consumer Resources, University of Arizona.

1996 - 2000: Assistant Professor, Division of Family Studies and Human Development, School of Family and Consumer Resources, University of Arizona.

1993-1996: Postdoctoral Fellow, NIMH Miltisite Family Research Consortium, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

Dr. Almeida's Full List of Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PU-NfToAAAAJ&hl=en

Grants and Research Projects

I am a life-span developmental psychologist with a primary focus on stress and coping during middle adulthood. My research examines the effects of biological and self-reported indicators of stress on health. My primary interest has been the role of daily stress on healthy aging but I have also examined stress processes in specific populations and contexts, such as the workplace and family interactions, parents of children with developmental disabilities, and family caregivers. My research has shown that minor yet frequent daily stressors are often better predictors of important health outcomes than major life events, which have been the focus of research for decades. To further his research in this area, I developed an instrument, the Daily Inventory of Stressful Experiences that has been used in large scale epidemiologic and intervention studies on health and well-being. My research has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1996, and has received funding from many other agencies, including the German Research Council, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the W.T Grant Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Much of my energy is currently directed at three Projects. I am the Principal Investigator of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) one of the in-depth studies that are part of the MacArthur Foundation National Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS, http://www.midus.wisc.edu/). NSDE is the largest longitudinal diary study of daily experiences and health in the U.S.

I also direct the Workplace Practices and Daily Family Well-Being Project a component of the Work, Family, Health Study (http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/wfhn). Our project investigates the daily health effects of an employer-initiated workplace program designed to increase employee flexibility and control over how and when their work is done and to increase the support of supervisors for employees’ work-family issues. More specifically, we study a subsample of employees and their children in more depth to assess whether the outcomes of workplace program spill over to improve employees’ daily parenting and health and cross over to daily family processes and health in children. This project characterizes daily experiences and functioning using nightly telephone interviews as well as momentary measurements of salivary cortisol.

I am also a Co-PI for the QUick Interventions Nomographically-tailored for Cognitions and Emotions [QUINCE] Project a component of the Science and Behavior Change Study (https://scienceofbehaviorchange.org/). Our project investigates the utilization of an experimental medicine approach to develop an efficient, ecologically valid, within-person approach to measuring and intervening on the deleterious effects of everyday stress on meeting recommended levels of two health behaviors: physical activity and sleep patterns. In Phase 1, we will develop, validate and deliver a stress assay that assesses malleable components of the stress process that drive health behavior decisions and enactment as they unfold, in real-time and in individuals' natural environments. In Phase 2, we will use this assay to evaluate "just-in-time" intervention approaches that target specific stress response components at times and in contexts when they are most malleable and can positively impact health behaviors. In contrast to previous daily stress studies, we will conduct coordinated analyses in several intensive longitudinal datasets separating effects of stressor reactivity, recovery and pile-up on health behaviors. By replicating the results across these studies we will ensure identification of the most reliable and potent targets for intervention.

Current Research Projects

  • Research Training in Pathways to Healthy Aging (Pending). National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Principal Investigator)
  • Daily Stress Coping and Premature Cognitive Aging in Child Abuse Victims at Midlife, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Role: Investigator, PI: Jennie Noll)
  • Age, Emotional Well-Being, and Physical Health (Pending). National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Role: Investigator, PI: Susan Charles).
  • Integrated Pathways to Health and Illness: The MIDUS Refresher Cohort Project 2: Daily Stress and Well-Being. National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Principal Investigator).
  • A Daily Diary Evaluation of the Health Benefits of a Workplace Intervention. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, (Principal Investigator).
  • Daily Experience in Adolescence and Biomarkers of Early Risk for Adult Health. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, (Role: Investigator, PI: Andrew Fuligni).
  • Daily Stress, Health, and Wellbeing of Family Caregivers. National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Role: Investigator, PI: Steven Zarit).
  • Changes in Daily Stress During Adulthood (competitive renewal). National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Principal Investigator).
  • Work Stress Health and Parenting among Hotel Employees National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, (Role: Co-Principal Investigator; PI: Ann Crouter).
  • Personality, Daily Stress & Health in Adulthood. National Institute on Aging with dual sponsorship by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, (Role: Investigator; PI: Daniel Mroczek).

Awards

2010: Evan G. and Helen G. Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award

1999: Teaching Award of Merit, National Association of Colleges of Agriculture, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona.

1996: Outstanding Alumni Award, California State University, Northridge

1994: MacArthur Foundation Research Network Affiliate
 

Publications
  • DePasquale, N., Mogle, J. A., Zarit, S. H., Okechukwu, C. A., Kossek, E. E., & Almeida, D. M. (2017). The family time squeeze: Perceived family time adequacy buffers work strain in certified nursing assistants with multiple caregiving roles. The Journals of Gerontology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnw191
  • Lee, S., McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., Hammer, L. B., & Almeida, D. M. (2017). Finding time over time: Longitudinal links between employed mothers’ work-family conflict and time profiles. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/fam0000303
  • Liu, Y., Almeida, D. M., Rovine, M. J., & Zarit, S. H. (2017). Care transitions and adult day services moderate the longitudinal links between stress biomarkers and family caregivers’ functional health. Gerontology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1159/000475557
  • Almeida, D. M., Davis, K. D., Lee, S., Lawson, K. M., Walter, K. N., & Moen, P. (2016). Supervisor support buffers daily psychological and physiological reactivity to work-to-family conflict. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78, 165–179. doi:10.1111/jomf.12252
  • Charles, S. T., Mogle, J., Urban, E. J., & Almeida, D. M. (2016). Daily events are important for age differences in mean and duration for negative affect but not positive affect. Psychology and Aging, 31, 661-671. doi: 10.1037/pag0000118
  • Koffer, R. E., Ram, N., Conroy, D. E., Pincus, A. L., & Almeida, D. M. (2016). Stressor diversity: Introduction and empirical integration into the daily stress model. Psychology and Aging, 31, 301-320. doi: 10.1037/pag0000095
  • Leger, K. A., Charles, S. T., Turiano, N. A., & Almeida, D. M. (2016). Personality and stressor-related affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 917-928. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000083
  • Sin, N. L., Graham, J. E., & Almeida, D. M. (2015). Daily positive events and inflammation: Findings from the National Study of Daily Experiences. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 43, 130-138. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.07.015
  • Sin, N. L., Graham-Engeland, J. E., Ong, A. D., & Almeida, D. M. (2015). Affective reactivity to daily stressors is associated with elevated inflammation. Health Psychology, 34(12), 1154-1165. doi: 10.1037/hea0000240
  • Almeida, D. M., Davis, K. D., Crouter, A. C., & O’Neill, J. W. (2013). Translational research on work and family: Daily stress processes in hotel employees and their families. In E. Wethington (Ed.), Improving the state of Americans: Translational research in the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 127-146). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
  • Almeida, D. M., Piazza, J. R. Stawski, R. S. , & Kline, L. C. (in press) The Speedometer of Life:  Stress, Health and Aging. In K.W. Schaie & R. Levey.  The Handbook of the psychology of aging. Elsevier, NewYork
  • Karlamangla, A., Friedman, E., Stawksi, R. S.& Seeman & Almeida, D. M. (in press). Daytime trajectories of cortisol: Demographic and socioeconomic differences. Findings from The National Study of Daily Experiences. Psychoneuroendocrinology.
  • Stawski, R., S & Almeida, D. M. (in press). Associations among daily stressors and salivary cortisol: Findings from the National Study of Daily Experiences. Psychoneuroendocrinology.
  • Almeida, D. M., Davis, K. D., & Crouter, A. C.(2013) Translational research on work and family: Daily stress processes in hotel employees and their families. In Improving the state of Americans: Translational research in the social and behavioral sciences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Charles, S. T., Piazza, J. R., Slwinski, M., Mogle, J., & Almeida, D. M. (2013). The wear-and-tear of daily stressors on mental health. Psychological Science.
  • Piazza, J. R., Charles, S. T., Slwinski, M., Mogle, J., & Almeida, D. M. (2013). Affective reactivity to daily stressors and long-term risk of reporting a chronic physical health condition. Annals of Behavioral Medicine
  • Piazza, J. R,  Almeida, D. M., Dimitreva, N. & Klein, L. C. (2010). Frontiers in the use of biomarkers in research on stress and aging. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. 65, 513-25
  • Almeida, D. M., & Wong, J. D. (2009). Life transitions and daily stress rocesses. In G. H., Elder, Jr., & J. Z. Giele (Eds.), The craft of life course research (pp. 41-162). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Almeida, D. M., Piazza, J. R., & Stawski, R. S. (2009). Inter-individual differences and intra-individual variability in the cortisol awakening response: An examination of age and gender. Psychology and Aging, 24, 819-827.
  • Almeida, D. M. McGonagle, K., & King, H. (2009). Assessing daily stress processes in social surveys by combining stressor exposure and salivary cortisol. Biodemography and Social Biology, 55, 220-238.
  • Sliwinski, M. J., Almeida, D. M., Smyth, J., & Stawski, R. S. (2009). Intraindividual change and variability in daily stress processes: Findings from two measurement-burst diary studies. Psychology and Aging, 24, 828-840.
  • Charles, S. T., & Almeida, D. M. (2007). Genetic and environmental effects on daily life stressors: More evidence for greater variation in later life. Psychology and Aging, 22(2), 331-340.
  • Almeida, D.M. (2005). Resilience and vulnerability to daily stressors assessed via diary methods. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14 , 64-68.
Additional Information

Daily stress processes; adult development; family factors in mental health; work and family linkages; work place interventions; Biological markers of health and well-being.