Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Gerontologist. 2023 Jun 15;63(5):933-944. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnac106.
Despite well-documented cognitive and physical declines with age, older adults tend to report higher emotional well-being than younger adults, even during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To understand this paradox, as well as investigate the effects of specific historical contexts, the current study examined age differences in emotion regulation related to the events of 2020 in the United States. We predicted that, due to older adults' theorized greater prioritization of hedonic goals and avoidance of arousal, older adults would report more positivity-upregulation and acceptance tactics than younger adults.
Eighty-one younger adults (aged 18-25) and 85 older adults (age 55+) completed a retrospective survey on their emotion regulation tactic usage for 3 specific events: the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the killing of George Floyd, and the presidential election.
Older adults tended to rely most on acceptance-focused tactics, while younger adults tended to rely on a more even variety of tactics. However, age differences in tactic preferences varied by event, possibly due to younger adults' greater emotion regulation flexibility.
Older adults' higher emotional well-being may not be primarily a result of age differences in positivity-related emotion regulation tactics but more about differences in acceptance use.
尽管年龄增长会导致认知和身体功能明显下降，但老年人的情绪幸福感往往高于年轻人，即使在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间也是如此。为了理解这一矛盾现象，并探究特定历史背景的影响，本研究在美国考察了与 2020 年事件相关的情绪调节方面的年龄差异。我们预测，由于老年人理论上更重视享乐目标和避免兴奋，因此与年轻人相比，老年人会更多地使用积极情绪增强和接受策略。
81 名年轻人（18-25 岁）和 85 名老年人（55 岁以上）完成了一项关于他们在 3 个特定事件中情绪调节策略使用情况的回顾性调查：COVID-19 疫情爆发、乔治·弗洛伊德被杀和总统选举。
老年人倾向于最依赖以接受为重点的策略，而年轻人则倾向于更均匀地使用各种策略。然而，策略偏好的年龄差异因事件而异，这可能是由于年轻人具有更大的情绪调节灵活性。
老年人较高的情绪幸福感可能不是主要由于积极情绪调节策略的年龄差异，而更多的是由于接受策略的使用差异。
