Schneider Stefan, Stone Arthur A
Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science, University of Southern California.
Psychol Aging. 2015 Jun;30(2):369-82. doi: 10.1037/pag0000018. Epub 2015 Apr 20.
Mixed emotions involve the co-occurrence of positive and negative affect, such that people feel happy and sad at the same time. The purpose of the present study was to investigate age-related differences in the experience of mixed emotions across the adult life span in 2 nationally representative samples of U.S. residents. Data collected by the Princeton Affect and Time Survey (PATS, n = 3,948) and by the 2010 Wellbeing Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS, n = 12,828) were analyzed. In both surveys, respondents (aged 15 years or older) provided a detailed time diary about the preceding day and rated their happiness and sadness for 3 of the day's episodes. From these reports, 3 different indices of mixed emotions were derived. Results indicated small, but robust, increases in mixed emotions with age. Linear age increases were consistently evident in both PATS and ATUS, and replicated across the different indices of mixed emotions. There was no significant evidence for curvilinear age trends in either study. Several sociodemographic factors that could plausibly explain age-differences in mixed emotions (e.g., retirement, disability) did not alter the age-effects. The present study adds to the growing literature documenting vital changes in the complexity of emotional experience over the life span.
混合情绪涉及积极情感和消极情感同时出现，即人们会同时感到开心和悲伤。本研究的目的是在美国居民的两个具有全国代表性的样本中，调查成年期混合情绪体验的年龄差异。对普林斯顿情感与时间调查（PATS，n = 3948）和美国时间使用调查2010年幸福模块（ATUS，n = 12828）收集的数据进行了分析。在这两项调查中，受访者（年龄在15岁及以上）提供了一份关于前一天的详细时间日记，并对当天三个时间段的幸福和悲伤程度进行了评分。从这些报告中得出了三种不同的混合情绪指标。结果表明，混合情绪随年龄增长有小幅但显著的增加。在PATS和ATUS中，年龄的线性增长都始终明显，并且在不同的混合情绪指标中都得到了重复。两项研究中均没有明显的曲线年龄趋势证据。一些可能解释混合情绪年龄差异的社会人口学因素（如退休、残疾）并未改变年龄效应。本研究为越来越多的文献增添了内容，这些文献记录了情感体验复杂性在整个生命周期中的重要变化。
