Across days and levels: psychological richness and perceived social support in stress-related social inhibition

Background Everyday stress and social inhibition are relevant to mental health during emerging adulthood. Daily psychological richness may help explain the temporal association between perceived stress and subsequent social inhibition. Methods In a 15-day diary study, 186 emerging adults provided 2,790 observations of perceived stress, psychological richness, and social inhibition. Perceived social support was assessed at the person level. Two-level dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) was used to examine lagged associations and cross-level moderation. Results Higher perceived stress was associated with lower psychological richness the following day [estimate = −0.588, 95% highest posterior density credible interval (HPD CrI) (−0.672, −0.501)]. Psychological richness was negatively associated with social inhibition on the subsequent day [estimate = −0.093, 95% HPD CrI (−0.108, −0.079)], and perceived stress showed a positive direct association with social inhibition 2 days later [estimate = 0.224, 95% HPD CrI (0.192, 0.257)]. Higher perceived social support was associated with weaker stress–richness and direct stress–inhibition associations. The credible interval for moderation of the richness–inhibition path included zero. The conditional indirect association was smaller at high than low support [difference = −0.040, 95% HPD CrI (−0.065, −0.016)]. Conclusion The findings identify a temporally ordered indirect association involving daily psychological richness and support-related differences in stress-linked pathways. They inform further research on everyday psychosocial experiences and social functioning among emerging adults.