Daily Health and Well-Being in Young Adults

Dear Colleagues,

Young adulthood is increasingly recognized as a critical period in health and well-being. During young adulthood, individuals undergo significant life transitions and establish health-related practices and behaviors with lasting effects. Relative to other developmental periods, the transition to young adulthood is marked by an increased risk of unhealthy eating behaviors, depressive symptoms, and substance use disorders (Lu et al., 2023; Rod et al., 2025; Stok et al., 2018). Furthermore, young adulthood may be a particularly salient time for interventions that promote long-term health. Despite the critical importance of health and health behavior development during this stage of life, however, the health of young adults is studied less frequently than that of other age groups (Rod et al., 2025).

Health and well-being are shaped to a significant degree by the cumulative effects of daily health behavior practices such as sleeping, eating, physical activity/inactivity, substance use, social interactions, and screentime. Daily health behavior practices are influenced by varied factors, including mood, chronic and daily stressors, peer influence, and health-related beliefs and expectations. Understanding the factors associated with daily health and well-being practices in young adults is crucial to the development of prevention and intervention efforts for this population.

Experience sampling methodologies, such as mobile-based ecological momentary assessment, are increasingly used to establish temporal associations between, and daily fluctuations in, health behaviors and related factors. These technologies have demonstrated feasibility and acceptability in assessing a variety of health behaviors in young adults, including dietary intake and e-cigarette use (Battaglia et al., 2022; Camenga et al., 2021). These and other daily sampling methodologies have begun to shed light on day-to-day factors influencing young adults’ health and well-being. For example, young adults’ daily physical activity and time spent outdoors are associated with a higher positive affect and lower negative affect (Li et al., 2022). Gratitude is associated with same-day and next-day well-being among young adults (Zhang et al., 2022). Additionally, there is evidence that daily media exposure influences young adults’ body satisfaction and affect (Griffiths & Stefanovski, 2019). This body of research can serve to enhance our understanding of daily factors that bear both positive and negative consequences for health during a critical period.

This Special Issue focuses on research that promotes our understanding of factors influencing daily health and well-being among young adults. This encompasses wide-ranging influences on daily health and well-being including psychological, social, biological, behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors. Reviews and original research articles on these topics are welcome.

References:

Battaglia, B., Lee, L., Jia, S. S., Partridge, S. R., & Allman-Farinelli, M. (2022). The Use of Mobile-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment (mEMA) Methodology to Assess Dietary Intake, Food Consumption Behaviours and Context in Young People: A Systematic Review. Healthcare, 10(7), 1329. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10071329

Camenga, D. R., Haeny, A. M., Krishnan-Sarin, S., O’Malley, S. S., & Bold, K. W. (2021). Pilot Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Subjective and Contextual Factors Surrounding E-Cigarette and Combustible Tobacco Product Use among Young Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11005. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111005

Griffiths, S., & Stefanovski, A. (2019). Thinspiration and fitspiration in everyday life: An experience sampling study. Body Image, 30, 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.07.002

Li, Y. M., Hachenberger, J., & Lemola, S. (2022). The Role of the Context of Physical Activity for Its Association with Affective Well-Being: An Experience Sampling Study in Young Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 19(17), 10468. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710468

Lu, W., Lopez-Castro, T., & Vu, T. (2023). Population-based examination of substance use disorders and treatment use among US young adults in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2011-2019. Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, 8, 100181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadr.2023.100181

Rod, N. H., Davies, M., de Vries, T. R., Kreshpaj, B., Drews, H., Nguyen, T.-L., & Elsenburg, L. K. (2025). Young adulthood: A transitional period with lifelong implications for health and wellbeing. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(25). https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00148-8

Stok, F. M., Renner, B., Clarys, P., Lien, N., Lakerveld, J., & Deliens, T. (2018). Understanding Eating Behavior during the Transition from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: A Literature Review and Perspective on Future Research Directions. Nutrients, 10(6), 667. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10060667

Zhang, L., Li, W., Ye, Y., Yang, K., Jia, N., & Kong, F. (2022). Being grateful every day will pay off: a daily diary investigation on relationships between gratitude and well-being in Chinese young adults. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(6), 853–865. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2131606

Dr. Elizabeth Dalton
Guest Editor

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