Brown Colette J, Rook Karen S, Charles Susan T, Fingerman Karen L
Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, United States.
Department of Family Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Jul 2. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaf124.
Relationships that elicit both positive and negative emotions, known as ambivalent ties, are often linked to adverse health outcomes in later life. Their negative health impacts, however, may depend on how older adults appraise different emotional experiences (e.g., viewing relationship "ups and downs" as useful or meaningful). This study examined whether bivalent affect valuation (BAV; the extent to which people appraise both positive and negative emotions as valuable) moderates the link between ambivalent ties and health-related limitations in daily activities.
Community-dwelling older adults (N = 250, ages 65-89 years old) completed an in-person interview assessing their social ties and sociodemographic factors, followed by a self-administered questionnaire assessing their valuation of positive and negative emotions, and 5-6 days of momentary assessments examining their social encounters (every three hours) and health-related limitations each day (at bedtime).
Overall, greater exposure to ambivalent ties was associated with more health-related limitations across all days in the study period. Among older adults with greater bivalent affect valuation, however, greater exposure to ambivalent ties on a given day was associated with fewer health-related limitations that day compared to days with less exposure to ambivalent ties. Sensitivity analyses revealed that this effect was likely due to valuing negative affect, specifically.
These findings highlight the importance of considering how older adults' valuation of their emotions, particularly their negative emotions, might influence the health-related toll of ambivalent ties.
引发积极和消极情绪的关系，即矛盾关系，通常与晚年的不良健康结果相关。然而，它们对健康的负面影响可能取决于老年人如何评价不同的情感体验（例如，将关系的“起伏”视为有用或有意义）。本研究考察了矛盾情感评估（BAV；人们将积极和消极情绪都视为有价值的程度）是否会调节矛盾关系与日常活动中与健康相关的限制之间的联系。
居住在社区的老年人（N = 250，年龄在65 - 89岁之间）完成了一次面对面访谈，评估他们的社会关系和社会人口学因素，随后进行了一份自我管理的问卷，评估他们对积极和消极情绪的评价，以及为期5 - 6天的即时评估，每天每三小时检查他们的社交接触情况，每天就寝时检查与健康相关的限制情况。
总体而言，在研究期间的所有日子里，更多地接触矛盾关系与更多与健康相关的限制有关。然而，在矛盾情感评估较高的老年人中，与接触矛盾关系较少的日子相比，在某一天更多地接触矛盾关系与当天较少的与健康相关的限制有关。敏感性分析表明，这种效应可能特别是由于重视消极情绪。
这些发现凸显了考虑老年人对其情绪，特别是消极情绪的评价如何可能影响矛盾关系对健康造成的影响的重要性。
