Momentary Coping Prompts and Hair Steroids in College Students

NCT07782398 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: IRB20260105900135244
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study looks at the moments when college students feel a strong emotional swing, and how those moments relate to reacting online when upset, drinking alcohol, and eating in response to emotions. Participants wear a wrist device and answer brief check-ins on their phone several times a day for about five weeks. During part of that time, a study app sometimes sends a short coping message at moments when the wrist device and check-ins suggest emotions are shifting quickly. Whether a message is sent at any given moment is decided at random, and the study compares what participants do in the short window afterward. An optional part of the study collects one small hair sample, which is tested for two hormones related to stress and to status-linked behavior, so the researchers can see whether longer-term hormone levels relate to how people respond in the moment. The study is a pilot designed to test whether the approach works and to estimate how large its effects are.

Conditions

Emotional Regulation; Alcohol Drinking in College; Emotional Eating; Aggression

Keywords

just-in-time adaptive intervention; micro-randomized trial; ecological momentary assessment; wearable sensor; hair cortisol; emotional volatility; college students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Momentary urge to post or reply reactively, score on a 7-point scale.

  Self-reported urge to post or reply about something upsetting, rated 1 to 7 at the first check-in within two hours after a randomized decision point. Higher scores indicate greater urge. Analyzed as a causal excursion effect comparing decision points at which a coping message was delivered with those at which it was not.

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5.

• Momentary urge to drink alcohol, score on a 7-point scale.

  Self-reported current urge to drink alcohol, rated 1 to 7 at the first check-in within two hours after a randomized decision point. Higher scores indicate greater urge. Analyzed as a causal excursion effect.

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5.

• Momentary emotional influence on eating, score on a 7-point scale.

  Self-reported rating of how much emotions influenced eating since the previous check-in, rated 1 to 7 at the first check-in within two hours after a randomized decision point. Analyzed as a causal excursion effect.

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5

Secondary Outcomes (10)

• Momentary reactive online behavior since the previous check-in, self-reported occurrence

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5

• Number of standard drinks consumed since the previous check-in, self-reported count

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5

• Loss-of-control eating rating, score on a 7-point scale.

  Within 2 hours after each randomized decision point, across weeks 2 to 5

• Proportion of scheduled check-ins completed.

  Through study completion, approximately 5 weeks per participant.

• Proportion of delivered prompts receiving a response

  Through study completion, approximately 5 weeks per participant.

Other Outcomes (4)

• Exploratory: concentration of hair cortisol, pg/mg.

  Enrollment visit, single hair sample reflecting approximately the prior 3 months.

• Exploratory: concentration of hair testosterone, pg/mg.

  Enrollment visit, single hair sample reflecting approximately the prior 3 months.

• Exploratory: correlation between hair cortisol concentration and momentary reactive behavior score, stratified by adverse childhood experiences score.

  Baseline hair sample, with momentary outcomes across weeks 2 to 5.

Study Arms (2)

Coping prompt delivered

EXPERIMENTAL

Decision points at which the randomization outcome is to deliver a brief cognitive-behavioral or acceptance-based coping message. Message type is selected at random from those eligible in the participant's current context. Every participant contributes decision points to this condition.

Behavioral: Momentary coping prompt

No coping prompt or active control message

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Decision points at which the randomization outcome is not to deliver a coping message. A brief neutral, non-directive acknowledgment message may be delivered as an active control so that receiving any message can be separated from receiving a coping message. Every participant contributes decision points to this condition.

Behavioral: Active control message

Interventions

Momentary coping prompt BEHAVIORAL

A single short message of one to three sentences delivered to the participant's smartphone at a randomized decision point, taking roughly fifteen to thirty seconds to read. Messages apply cognitive-behavioral techniques including thought records, perspective-taking, decatastrophizing, cost-benefit checks, implementation intentions, and behavioral redirection, or acceptance-based techniques including cognitive defusion, acceptance, values anchoring, urge surfing, and present-moment grounding. Delivery is capped at four messages per day with a minimum sixty-minute interval and is confined to participant-set waking hours. Messages may be dismissed without responding.

Coping prompt delivered

Active control message BEHAVIORAL

A brief neutral acknowledgment message matched to the coping messages on delivery mechanism and approximate length, containing no coping technique or behavioral suggestion.

No coping prompt or active control message

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 89 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Currently enrolled University of Florida student
• Age 18 years or older
• Owns a smartphone used daily
• Willing to wear a wrist-worn device and complete brief check-ins several times daily for approximately five weeks
• For the optional hair biomarker sub-study only: at least approximately 1 cm of hair at the posterior vertex, no scalp wound, rash, or dermatologic treatment at the collection site, and natural hair growth accessible at the collection site

You may not qualify if:

• Varsity student-athlete governed by the university athletic association
• Unable to complete study procedures in English

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Florida: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida, 32611, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Emotional Regulation; Alcohol Drinking in College; Emotional Eating; Aggression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Self-Control; Social Behavior; Behavior; Alcohol Drinking; Drinking Behavior; Feeding Behavior; Aberrant Motor Behavior in Dementia; Behavioral Symptoms

Study Officials

• Yonghwan Chang, PhD

  University of Florida

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Yonghwan Chang, PhD

CONTACT

352-294-1664; yhchang@ufl.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Micro-randomized trial. Each participant is repeatedly randomized at decision points across four weeks, so every participant contributes observations under both conditions rather than being assigned to a single group for the duration. At each available decision point, randomization with probability 0.5 determines whether a coping message is delivered; when a message is delivered, its type is selected at random from those eligible in that context. Approximately one hundred available randomized decision points are expected per participant. Crossover assignment is selected because it is the closest available model to a within-person repeated randomization design.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 17, 2026
• First Posted: August 24, 2026
• Study Start (Estimated): September 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Last Updated: August 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)