Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention.
Department of Psychology.
Psychol Aging. 2020 Jun;35(4):591-603. doi: 10.1037/pag0000463. Epub 2020 Apr 9.
Emotional approach coping involves active attempts at emotional expression and processing in response to stressful circumstances. This study tested whether dispositional emotional approach coping processes predict changes in physical and mental health in community-dwelling older adults, particularly within the context of higher perceived stress. To test this, older adults ( = 150) completed assessments of emotional expression and emotional processing at study entry. They also completed measures of perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and ill-health (a composite of subjective and objective physical health indicators, which included blood draw for collection of biomarkers), every 6 months over 4.5 years. Emotional processing and emotional expression were not related significantly to ill-health at study entry. However, emotional processing (but not emotional expression) significantly predicted changes in ill-health. At higher levels of emotional processing, ill-health remained low and stable; at lower levels of emotional processing, ill-health increased over time. However, when perceived stress was high, higher emotional processing and emotional expression were related to lower depressive symptoms at study entry, but higher emotional processing was associated with increasing depressive symptoms over time. Emotional approach coping processes evidence prospective relations with health outcomes, which are partially conditioned by stress perceptions. Emotional processing appears to have a protective impact against declining physical health. Predictive relationships for depressive symptoms are more complex. Older adults with chronically high perceived stress might benefit from interventions that target emotion-regulating coping processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
情绪应对涉及在应对压力环境时主动进行情绪表达和处理。本研究检验了性格情绪应对处理过程是否能预测社区居住的老年人的身心健康变化，尤其是在感知压力较高的情况下。为了检验这一点，老年人（n=150）在研究开始时完成了情绪表达和情绪处理的评估。他们还完成了感知压力、抑郁症状和健康状况（主观和客观身体健康指标的综合指标，包括用于收集生物标志物的血液采集）的测量，在 4.5 年内每 6 个月测量一次。情绪处理和情绪表达在研究开始时与健康状况没有显著相关。然而，情绪处理（而不是情绪表达）显著预测了健康状况的变化。在情绪处理水平较高的情况下，健康状况保持较低且稳定；在情绪处理水平较低的情况下，健康状况随时间推移而增加。然而，当感知压力较高时，较高的情绪处理和情绪表达与研究开始时较低的抑郁症状相关，但较高的情绪处理与随时间推移抑郁症状的增加相关。情绪应对处理过程与健康结果具有前瞻性关系，这些关系部分受到压力感知的影响。情绪处理似乎对身体功能下降具有保护作用。对于抑郁症状的预测关系更为复杂。长期感知压力较高的老年人可能受益于针对情绪调节应对处理过程的干预措施。
