Dr. Nancy L. Sin (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in health psychology, in addition to supervising undergraduate, MA, and PhD students. She is Co-Chair of the Antiracism Task Force for the American Psychosomatic Society, faculty investigator in the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and previously served on the Executive Committee for the American Psychological Association’s Division on Adult Development and Aging. Dr. Sin established and formerly directed the Diversity Mentorship Program to provide mentorship to students from diverse backgrounds interested in pursuing graduate studies in psychology. Her work has been supported by grants as PI or Co-I from the U.S. National Institute on Aging, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Dr. Sin’s research focuses on biological and behavioural pathways linking daily well-being and stress to health. Her work has shown that emotional responses to daily stressors are associated with inflammatory, neuroendocrine, and autonomic mechanisms that are implicated in the development of aging-related conditions, including cardiovascular disease. Dr. Sin is particularly interested in daily positive events as protective factors for stress processes and health. The ultimate goal of this research is to contribute towards the development of strategies for promoting psychological and physical well-being across the adult lifespan. 

Research interests include:

• Biological and behavioural pathways linking daily stress and emotions to long-term health and aging
• Daily positive experiences in the context of stress, depression, and social inequity
• Emotional well-being and aging
• The cycle of stress and sleep in daily life

For a complete list of Dr. Sin’s publications, please visit the UPLIFT Health Lab website.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Underline denotes graduate trainee and *asterisk and underline denotes undergraduate trainee under Dr. Sin’s direct supervision

*Mezuk, B., *Sin, N. L., *Stanton, M.V., *Szabo, Y. Z., *Tomiyama, A. J., & *White, K. E. (2023). The American Psychosomatic Society Antiracism Task Force: Implementation, activities, and lessons learned. Psychosomatic Medicine, 85(6), 466-473. https://www.doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001222 
*all authors contributed equally and are listed in alphabetical order

Sin, N. L. & Ong, L. Q. (2022). Considerations for advancing the conceptualization of well-being. Affective Science. DOI: 10.1007/s42761-022-00149-y

Ong, L. Q., Klaiber, P., DeLongis, A., & Sin, N. L. (2022). Day-to-day associations of everyday discrimination with affect and physical symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Psychology, 41(11), 843-852. DOI: 10.1037/hea0001242

Pfund, G. N., DeLongis, A., Sin, N., Morstead, T., & Hill, P. L. (2022). Being active for a purpose: Evaluating the bi-directional associations between monthly purpose and physical activity. Social Science & Medicine, 310, 115300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115300

Morstead, T., Zheng, J., Sin, N. L., Rights, J., & DeLongis, A. (2022). Pandemic stressors and depressive symptoms: Examining within- and between-person effects of neuroticism. Personality and Individual Differences, 198, 111827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111827

Klaiber, P., & Sin, N. L. (in press). Uplifts in daily life. In S. D. Pressman & A. C. Parks (Eds.), Activities for Teaching Positive Psychology, Volume II. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Wen, J. H., & Sin, N. L. (2022). Perceived control and reactivity to acute stressors: Variations by age, race, and facets of control. Stress and Health, 38(3),419-434. DOI: 10.1002/smi.3103

Klaiber, P., Wen, J. H., Ong, A. D., Almeida, D. M., & Sin, N. L. (2022). Personality differences in engagement and responsiveness to daily positive events. Journal of Personality, 90, 441-456. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12676

*Ying, F., Wen, J. H., Klaiber, P., DeLongis, A., Slavish, D. C., & Sin, N. L. (2022). Associations between intraindividual variability in sleep and daily positive affect. Affective Science, 3, 330–340. DOI: 10.1007/s42761-021-00082-6

Hill, P. L., Klaiber, P., Burrow, A. L., DeLongis, A. & Sin, N. L. (2022). Purposefulness and daily life in a pandemic: Predicting daily affect and physical symptoms during the first weeks of the COVID-19 response. Psychology & Health, 37(8), 985-1001. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2021.1914838

Wen, J. H., Klaiber, P., DeLongis, A., Slavish, D. C., & Sin, N. L. (2021). Day-to-day associations of sleep with health and well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Sleep Health, 7(6), 666-674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2021.09.007

Sin, N. L., Rush, J., Buxton, O. M., & Almeida, D. M. (2021). Emotional vulnerability to short sleep predicts increases in chronic health conditions across 8 years. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 55(12), 1231–1240. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaab018
** Selected as an Editor’s Choice article at Annals of Behavioral Medicine **

Hill, P. L., Sin, N. L., Edmonds, G. W., & Burrow, A. L. (2021). Associations between everyday discrimination and sleep: Tests of moderation by ethnicity and sense of purpose. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 55(12), 1246-1252. DOI: 10.1093/abm/kaab012

Zheng, J., Morstead, T., Sin, N., Klaiber, P., Umberson, D., Kamble, S., & DeLongis, A. (2021). Psychological distress in North America during COVID-19: The Role of Pandemic-Related Stressors. Social Science and Medicine, 270, 113687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113687

Hill, P. L., Klaiber, P., Burrow, A. L., DeLongis, A. & Sin, N. L. (2022). Great, purposeful expectations: Predicting daily purposefulness during the COVID-19 response. Journal of Positive Psychology, 17(1), 89-101. DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2020.1832251

Sin, N. L., Klaiber, P., Wen, J. H., & DeLongis, A. (2021). Helping amid the pandemic: Daily affective and social implications of COVID-19-related prosocial activities. The Gerontologist, 61(1), 59-70. DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnaa140

Klaiber, P., Wen, J. H., DeLongis, A., & Sin, N. L. (2021). The ups and downs of daily life during COVID-19: Age differences in affect, stress, and positive events. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 76(2), e30–e37. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa096
** Awarded the Innovative Research on Aging Award (Bronze Award) from the Mather Institute **

Slavish, D.C., Asbee, J., Veeramachaneni, K., Messman, B., Scott, B., Sin, N.L., Taylor, D.J. & Dietch, J.R. (2021). The cycle of daily stress and sleep: Sleep measurement matters. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 55(5), 413-423. DOI: 10.1093/abm/kaaa053

Hill, P. L., Sin, N. L., Almeida, D. M., & Burrow, A. L. (2022). Sense of purpose predicts daily positive events and mitigates their influence on positive affect. Emotion, 22(3), 597-602. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000776

*Chi, K., Almeida, D. M., Charles, S. T., & Sin, N. L. (2021). Daily prosocial activities and well-being: Age moderation in two national studies. Psychology and Aging, 36(1), 83-95. DOI: 10.1037/pag0000460

Jones, D. R., Smyth, J. M., Engeland, C. G., Sliwinski, M. J., Russell, M., Sin, N. L., Almeida, D. M., & Graham-Engeland, J. E. (2020). Affect variability and inflammatory markers in midlife adults. Health Psychology, 39(8), 655–666. DOI: 10.1037/hea0000868

Wen, J. H., Lyubomirsky, S., & Sin, N. L. (2020). Positive activity interventions targeted to improve depressive symptoms. In S. I. Donaldson, M. Csikszentmihalyi, & J. Nakamura (Eds.), Positive psychological science (2^nd). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203731833

Graham-Engeland, J. E., Sin, N. L., Smyth, J. M., Jones, D., Knight, E. L., Sliwinski, M. J., Almeida, D. M., Katz, M. J., Lipton, R. B., & Engeland, C.G. (2018). Negative and positive affect as predictors of inflammation: Timing matters. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 74, 222-230. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.09.011

Hill, P. L., Sin, N. L., Turiano, N. A., Burrow, A. L., & Almeida, D. M. (2018). Sense of purpose moderates the associations between daily stressors and daily well-being. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 52, 724-729. DOI: 10.1093/abm/kax039

Otto, L., Sin, N. L., Almeida, D. M., & Sloan, R. P. (2018). Trait emotion regulation strategies and diurnal cortisol profiles in healthy adults. Health Psychology, 37, 301-305. DOI: 10.1037/hea0000564

Sin, N. L., & Almeida, D. M. (2018). Daily positive experiences and health: Biobehavioral pathways and resilience to daily stress. In C. D. Ryff & R. F. Krueger (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676384.013.10

Ong, A. D., Sin, N. L., & Ram, N. (2018). Distinguishing between fragile and enduring positive affect: Implications for health and well-being in midlife. In C. D. Ryff & R. F. Krueger (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676384.013.35

Sin, N. L., Ong, A. D., Stawski, R. S., & Almeida, D. M. (2017). Daily positive events and diurnal cortisol rhythms: Examination of between-person differences and within-person variation. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 83, 91-100. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.06.001

Sin, N. L., Almeida, D. M., Crain, T. L., Kossek, E. E., Berkman, L. F., & Buxton, O. M. (2017). Bidirectional, temporal associations of sleep with positive events, emotions, and stressors in daily life across a week. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51(3), 402-415. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-016-9864-y

• Innovative Research on Aging Award (Bronze Award) from the Mather Institute (2021)
• Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar (2020)
• Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging, Division 20 of the American Psychological Association (2019)

Dr. Sin will be accepting applications for graduate students to the Health Psychology program. She does not supervise students whose primary interests are in other areas of psychology (e.g., Clinical). For the 2024-25 school year, Dr. Sin is specifically seeking to supervise a Health Psychology graduate student who will focus on adult development and aging, stress, and health equity/disparities. For more information, see the Prospective Graduate Students page on her lab website.