A MULTILEVEL DATA-ANALYTIC APPROACH FOR EVALUATION OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DAILY-LIFE STRESSORS AND SYMPTOMATOLOGY - PATIENTS WITH IRRITABLE-BOWEL-SYNDROME

Four statistical strategies were used to evaluate whether occurrence o f daily stressors increases lower gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in ir ritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. Across-subject concurrent corre lations between weekly stress and symptoms were positive but causally ambiguous and obscured between- and within-subject and occasion relati onships. Multiple regressions assessing (weekly and daily) relations s howed that prior symptoms predicted subsequent symptoms but that prior and concurrent daily stress had no consistent effects. Idiographic co rrelations also showed little evidence for a relationship between stre ss and symptoms. Daily stress did not appear to increase GI symptoms i n IBS patients on a general basis. Daily recording methodology, in con junction with within-subject analytic strategies, is proposed as an in novative approach to examine relations between stress and physical sym ptomatology.