Investigating stress and health behaviour relationships in daily life: towards a framework for advancing future research

Stress is of major relevance for health and well-being. Health behaviour is one pathway by which stress affects health. Less research has jointly investigated stress and health behaviour but lately it has gained traction owing to the increased availability of methods for studying daily life that allow stress and health behaviour to be studied when and where it occurs. However, findings are highly heterogeneous, with studies finding positive, negative or no relationship between stress and health behaviour. In this paper, we discuss key sources of this heterogeneity, working toward a framework that will guide the field forward. Key elements of the framework include specifying (1) which stress aspects are related to which health behaviours, (2) considering the bidirectionality and (3) temporal dynamics of the stress-health behaviour relationship, and identifying (4) for whom and (5) under what circumstances stress relates to health behaviour. Further, we (6) highlight methodological challenges and provide guidance on how to consider these when planning and reporting research for more robust psychological science in this field. Taken together, we believe this work will help disentangle the complex relationship between stress and health behaviour and build a cumulative evidence base to pave the way for interventions.