Department of Psychology.
Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Psychol Aging. 2019 Feb;34(1):106-123. doi: 10.1037/pag0000305. Epub 2018 Oct 8.
Affective experiences at work are a key contributing factor to long-term job-related well-being and effectiveness, yet may systematically change as workers get older. Given the central role of affect in work settings, it is important to obtain a thorough understanding of older workers' strengths and vulnerabilities in affective functioning. This paper's goal was to comprehensively study age differences in mean levels and dynamics of affect (affect stability, occurrence of positive and negative daily work events, and affective reactivity) and to link these with perceptions of global occupational well-being and effectiveness. In three diary studies, employees of different occupational and cultural backgrounds (Hong Kong Chinese managerial employees, German hospital employees, German office workers) reported daily affective work events and affect across multiple workdays. Higher age was associated with more positive and less negative affect (Study 1), more frequent positive daily work events (Study 2 and 3), and lower variability of negative affect (Study 1 and 2). Age was unrelated to frequency of negative work events and positive event reactivity (all studies). There were mixed age differences in negative event reactivity (lower reactivity in Study 1 and on subtypes of affect in Study 2, but higher worry in Study 3). Several of the indicators of affective experience emerged as mediators of positive age differences in work engagement and self-rated task performance. Overall, with one exception, results point at maintenance or improvement of workers' affective functioning with age. Through improved affective functioning, older workers likely contribute to organizational effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
工作中的情感体验是长期工作相关幸福感和效率的关键因素，但随着员工年龄的增长，这些体验可能会系统地发生变化。鉴于情感在工作环境中的核心作用，了解老年工作者在情感功能方面的优势和弱点非常重要。本文的目的是全面研究情感（情感稳定性、积极和消极日常工作事件的发生以及情感反应性）在平均水平和动态方面的年龄差异，并将这些差异与整体职业幸福感和效率联系起来。在三项日记研究中，具有不同职业和文化背景的员工（香港中国管理人员、德国医院员工、德国办公室员工）报告了跨多个工作日的日常情感工作事件和情感。较高的年龄与更积极和较少消极的情感相关（研究 1），更多的积极日常工作事件（研究 2 和 3），以及较少的消极情感变异性（研究 1 和 2）。年龄与消极工作事件和积极事件反应性的频率无关（所有研究）。消极事件反应性存在年龄差异（研究 1 中反应性较低，研究 2 中对不同类型的情感反应性较低，但研究 3 中担心较高）。几种情感体验指标作为工作投入和自我评估任务绩效的积极年龄差异的中介变量出现。总体而言，除了一个例外，结果表明随着年龄的增长，工人的情感功能得到了维持或改善。通过改善情感功能，老年工人可能为组织的有效性做出贡献。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。
