Basevitz Paul, Pushkar Dolores, Chaikelson June, Conway Michael, Dalton Connie
Gilmour Psychological Services, Ottawa, Canada.
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2008;66(4):283-305. doi: 10.2190/AG.66.4.b.
This study investigated the hypothesis that older adults would show age-related reductions in the tendency to worry in both their retrospective accounts and through cross-sectional age comparisons with a sample of younger adults. We also sought to determine whether age differences would be evident in psychological processes associated with a tendency to worry in general adult samples (intolerance of uncertainty and beliefs in the functional value of worry). Support was found for the hypothesized age-related reduction in worry in both retrospective reports among the older adults and cross-sectional age comparisons. Older adults were also found to report less intolerance of uncertainty and less belief in the functional value of worrying compared to younger adults. These findings suggest that worry-proneness is reduced in late adulthood and that a greater ability to tolerate uncertainty in life and to see less value in worrying may partially account for this. Developmental and contextual changes that may account for these findings are considered.
在回顾性叙述中以及通过与年轻成年人样本进行横断面年龄比较，老年人会表现出与年龄相关的担忧倾向降低。我们还试图确定，在一般成年样本中，与担忧倾向相关的心理过程（对不确定性的不耐受以及对担忧功能价值的信念）中年龄差异是否会明显。在老年人的回顾性报告以及横断面年龄比较中，均发现支持了假设的与年龄相关的担忧减少。与年轻成年人相比，还发现老年人报告的对不确定性的不耐受程度较低，对担忧功能价值的信念也较低。这些发现表明，成年后期的担忧倾向会降低，并且在生活中更能容忍不确定性以及认为担忧价值较小的能力可能部分解释了这一点。文中考虑了可能解释这些发现的发展和情境变化。
