RESUMO
We argue that a comprehensive understanding of emotional development across adulthood must go beyond broad dimensions of affect and consider discrete emotions. Current evidence focuses on sadness and anger, two negative emotions that exert contrasting age trajectories because anger has high adaptive value in young adulthood, when people have abundant resources and need to carve out a niche in society, whereas sadness has high adaptive value in old age, a time of declining resources that requires adaptation to increasingly unattainable goals. We conclude that our position about the age-graded experience and adaptive value of emotions should hold for a variety of negative and positive emotions.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Tristeza , Humanos , Adulto Jovem , Adulto , Tristeza/psicologia , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Ira , EmoçõesRESUMO
The ability to regulate emotions in stressful situations is an important building block for high well-being across the lifespan. Yet, very little is known about how old and very old adults regulate their emotions. In this study, 123 young old adults (Mage = 67.18, SD = 0.94) and 47 very old adults (Mage = 86.70, SD = 1.46) were prompted 6 times a day for 7 consecutive days to report both their stressors and 10 emotion regulation strategies. Overall, there was little indication of age differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies during exposure to stressors, but very old, as compared with young old, individuals used three of the 10 strategies considered here more intensively. The 10 emotion regulation strategies were similarly effective across age groups based on their association with perceived overall emotion regulation success. We also did not find age group differences in within-strategy variability, defined as the variation in using a given strategy across stressor situations. By contrast, between-strategy variability, defined as the selective use of fewer rather than many strategies across stressor situations, was lower for very old participants. Only between-strategy, and not within-strategy, variability contributed to overall emotion regulation success. There was no age group difference in this regard. Taken together, the evidence suggests small age differences in emotion regulation if at all. This is noteworthy given the advanced age of the very old subsample in this study and the deficits in multiple domains of functioning reported in the literature for this advanced age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Regulação Emocional , Adulto , Humanos , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Regulação Emocional/fisiologia , Emoções/fisiologia , Gerenciamento de DadosRESUMO
Multiple-timescale studies provide new opportunities to examine how developmental processes that evolve at different cadences are intertwined. Developmental theories of emotion regulation suggest that the long-term, slowly evolving age-related accumulation of disease burden should shape short-term, faster evolving (daily) affective experiences. To empirically examine this proposition, we combined data from 123 old adults (65-69 years, 47% women) and 32 very old adults (85-88 years, 59% women) who provided 20 + year within-person longitudinal data on physician-rated morbidity and subsequently also completed repeated daily-life assessments of stress and affect six times a day over 7 consecutive days as they were going about their daily-life routines. Results from models that simultaneously articulate growth and intraindividual variability processes (in a dynamic structural equation modeling framework) revealed that individual differences in long-term aging trajectories of the accumulation of disease burden were indeed predictive of differences in three facets of affective dynamics that manifest in everyday life. In particular-over and above mean levels of disease burden-older adults whose disease burden had increased more over the past 20 years had higher base level of negative affect in their daily lives, more emotional reactivity to the experience of daily stressors, and more moment-to-moment fluctuations in negative affect that was unrelated to stressors (affective systemic noise). We highlight that developmental processes evolving over vastly different timescales are intertwined, and speculate how new knowledge about those relations can inform developmental theories of emotion regulation and daily-life functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Regulação Emocional , Humanos , Feminino , Idoso , Masculino , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Afeto/fisiologia , Individualidade , Estresse Psicológico/psicologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Sleep and health perceptions, such as self-ratings of pain and health are closely linked. However, the temporal ordering of such associations is not well understood, and it remains unclear whether sleep quality and sleep duration show similar or differential associations with health perceptions. METHODS: We used ecological momentary assessment data from 123 young-old (66-69 years, 47% women) and 47 old-old adults (84-90 years, 60% women). Across 7 consecutive days, participants reported their sleep quality and sleep duration each morning and rated their momentary pain and health 6 times per day. We applied dynamic structural equation models to examine bidirectional links of morning reports of sleep quality and duration with daily levels of self-rated pain and health. RESULTS: In line with the hypotheses, results showed that when participants reported better sleep quality than what is typical for them, they reported less pain and better self-rated health on the day that followed. Longer sleep duration was not linked with subsequent pain or self-rated health. On days when people rated their health as better than usual, they reported better sleep quality but not longer sleep duration the following night. These associations were not moderated by age, gender, or chronic pain. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that in old age, sleep quality is more relevant for health perceptions than sleep duration. Associations between sleep quality and self-rated health seem to be bidirectional; daily pain was linked to prior but not subsequent sleep quality.
Assuntos
Dor Crônica , Distúrbios do Início e da Manutenção do Sono , Humanos , Feminino , Idoso , Masculino , Qualidade do Sono , Sono , Duração do SonoRESUMO
Subjective age, that is the age people feel in relation to their chronological age, can vary on a day-to-day and even momentary basis. Previous long-term and daily-diary studies have shown that elevated stress covaries with older subjective age. However, it is an open question whether such links can also be observed at the momentary level within a given day and go beyond self-reports of stress. Moving ahead, we investigated how two indicators of stress (self-reported: perceived stress; physiological: salivary cortisol) are associated with the age people feel on a momentary basis. We examined data from 118 older (Mage = 66.67 years) and 36 very old adults (Mage = 85.92 years) who reported their momentary subjective age and perceived stress and also provided saliva samples up to seven times a day over seven consecutive days. Dynamic structural equation models showed that both higher momentary perceived stress and higher cortisol levels preceding the measurement predicted an older momentary subjective age. In contrast, subjective age at the previous measurement did not predict subsequent stress. These effects were moderated by participant age group and grip strength, albeit not consistently. Our results corroborate and extend earlier findings that both self-reported and physiological stress are important explanatory variables for people's subjective age variation even on relatively short time scales and shed light on differential time-ordered dynamics between stress and subjective age in daily life. Findings also inform theoretical models of subjective age that highlight the importance of contextual, momentary influences on how old people feel and help better understand how biological and psychological processes are intertwined in later life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Hidrocortisona , Humanos , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Estresse Fisiológico , Emoções/fisiologia , Autorrelato , Estresse Psicológico/psicologiaRESUMO
Bidirectional links between sleep quality and emotional experiences are complex and not yet well understood-especially in old age when substantial changes occur in sleep and emotional experiences. Because previous research rarely considered the role of stressors, we examine if older adults' sleep quality is directly associated with subsequent negative affect (NA) or more indirectly via affective reactivity to stressors. Specifically, we investigate whether and how older adults' sleep quality predicts negative affect and affective reactivity to stress on the following day, and vice versa. For seven consecutive days, 325 older adults (61-90 years, 49% women) reported their sleep quality each morning as well as momentary negative affect and stressful events multiple times a day. Results from multilevel structural equation models showed that after nights of lower sleep quality, older adults reported more negative affect, but not higher affective reactivity to stressors. In turn, after days with increased affective reactivity but not more negative affect, participants reported worse sleep quality. We discuss whether older adults are able to regulate the effects of low sleep quality, but have difficulties downregulating stress and its effects on sleep. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Afeto , Qualidade do Sono , Humanos , Feminino , Idoso , Masculino , Afeto/fisiologia , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Emoções/fisiologia , Sono/fisiologia , Estresse Psicológico/psicologiaRESUMO
This study examined whether sadness, but not anger, could facilitate adaptive goal disengagement capacity in the context of older adult's stress-related experiences. To this end, we investigated whether the within-person effects of sadness and anger on older adults' goal disengagement capacity were moderated by stress perceptions and diurnal cortisol levels. In addition, we tested whether an association between sadness and goal disengagement capacity could protect emotional well-being when older adults experience higher than normal perceived stress or cortisol. The study used data from a 6-wave 10-year longitudinal study of 184 community-dwelling older adults (Mage = 72.08, SDage = 5.70). Participants' sadness, anger, goal disengagement capacity, perceived stress, diurnal cortisol levels, emotional well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect), and sociodemographic variables were assessed at each wave. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that within-person increases in sadness, but not anger, predicted increased goal disengagement capacity among older adults who generally secreted high levels of cortisol. Moreover, older adults' who disengaged more easily when they felt sad were protected from declines in positive affect during assessments in which they secreted high, but not low, levels of cortisol. The study's findings suggest that generally enhanced cortisol output may facilitate an association between sadness and older adults' goal disengagement capacity and that this process may protect against declines in emotional well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Objetivos , Hidrocortisona , Idoso , Pré-Escolar , Emoções , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Tristeza/psicologiaRESUMO
Prominent life span theories have suggested that the ability to downregulate negative emotions remains stable or even increases well into old age. However, past evidence for continued growth during old age is mixed. In this laboratory study, 130 young old individuals (Mage = 66.72 years, SD = 1.03, range = 65 to 69 years, 48% female) and 59 very old individuals (Mage = 86.03 years, SD = 1.44, range = 83 to 89 years, 58% female) watched negative emotion evoking film clips under different emotion regulation instructions. Subjective feelings, cardiovascular reactions, and facial behavioral expressions were assessed in response to each film. Emotion regulation competence was operationalized as difference in the intensity of negative emotions during a trial with no regulation instruction versus three trials with regulation instruction, asking participants to engage in detached reappraisal, behavioral suppression, or positive reappraisal. In comparison to young old individuals, very old individuals were less able to regulate their self-reported negative feelings. These age-related deficits were partly associated with age differences in fluid cognitive abilities. Notably, however, emotion regulation deficits in very old individuals observed in self-reports of emotions were not evident at the levels of cardiovascular arousal and facial expressivity. Together this evidence speaks against one-sided views on emotional aging as uniform process of either growth or decline, even in old and very old age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Regulação Emocional , Idoso , Envelhecimento , Cognição/fisiologia , Emoções/fisiologia , Expressão Facial , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Over the past decade, many studies have reported individual differences in negative emotional reactions to daily stressful events. However, whether and how individual and age-related differences in emotional reactivity also depend on the temporal characteristics of stressors has received little attention. In this project, we focused on the temporal characteristics of stressor occurrence and examined the pile-up of stressors within a day-referring to multiple stressors encountered within a relatively narrow time window. To do so, we used data from 123 young-old (66-69 years, 47% women) and 47 very old adults (84-90 years, 60% women). Participants reported their momentary feelings and exposure to stressors six times a day over 7 consecutive days in their everyday life. Emotional reactivity to stressor pile-up over the day followed an exponential decay trajectory, with higher stressor burden in close proximity to the stressor occurrence. The exact shape of the decay trajectory differed among participants. Most importantly, both stressor pile-up and ongoing stress predicted greater emotional reactivity. We also found interaction effects of stressor pile-up and current stressor occurrence in that increases in negative affect under ongoing stress were stronger when stressors had piled-up before. No evidence was found for increased vulnerability to stressor pile-up in very old adults; rather, the impact of preceding stressors attenuated faster for individuals in this age group. The findings highlight the utility of comprehensively studying how stressor characteristics such as their pile-up within short time periods shape emotional reactivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Estresse Psicológico , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Emoções , Feminino , Humanos , Individualidade , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Estresse Psicológico/psicologiaRESUMO
Sadness is a negative emotion typically elicited by loss experiences. Given that losses increase with age, sadness should be relatively salient in this life phase. Such sadness experiences may serve an adaptive function in old age, if they facilitate detachment from unattainable goals. Thus, we predicted increased and less variable levels of sadness to occur among older, as compared with younger, adults in response to film clips involving loss-related themes. To test this prediction, a sample of 52 younger (Mage = 23.75 years, SD = 4.52) and 52 older adults (Mage = 71.21 years, SD = 6.11) watched four films and reported their sadness on multiple occasions during each film. In partial support of the hypotheses, the results showed that older, as compared with younger, adults reported greater sadness in response to one out of four film clips. However, there was no conclusive evidence for age differences in sadness variability within or across the films. Additional analyses revealed that age differences were not significant for another emotion, anxiety, in neither reactivity nor variability. Finally, although there were no age differences in mean levels of interest in the films, interest showed less variability among older, as compared with younger, adults. These findings are discussed from the perspective of a discrete emotions theory proposing distinct functions and associated differential age-related changes for different negative emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Tristeza , Idoso , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Ansiedade , Transtornos de Ansiedade , Emoções/fisiologia , Humanos , Tristeza/psicologiaRESUMO
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep duration affects various aspects of cognitive performance, such as working-memory and learning, among children and adults. However, it remains open, whether similar or even stronger associations exist in old and very old age when changes in sleep and cognitive decrements are common. METHODS: Using repeated daily-life assessments from a sample of 121 young-old (66-69 years old) and 39 old-old adults (84-90 years old), we assessed links between sleep duration and different aspects of working-memory (initial level, practice-related learning, and residualized variability) between and within persons. Participants reported their sleep durations every morning and performed a numerical working-memory updating task six times a day for seven consecutive days. RESULTS: Both people who slept longer and those who slept shorter than the sample average showed lower initial performance levels, but a stronger increase of WM over time (i.e. larger learning effects), relative to people with average sleep. Sleep duration did not predict performance variability. Within-person associations were found for people sleeping relatively little on average: For them, working-memory performance was lower on days with shorter than average sleep, yet higher on days with longer than average sleep. Except for lower initial levels of working-memory in old-old adults, no differences between young-old and old-old adults were observed. CONCLUSION: We conclude that sufficient sleep remains important for working-memory performance in older adults and that it is relevant to include different aspects of working-memory performance, because effects differed for initial performance and learning.
Assuntos
Memória de Curto Prazo , Sono , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Criança , Cognição , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , AprendizagemRESUMO
A growing body of research suggests that empathy predicts important work outcomes, yet limitations in existing measures to assess empathy have been noted. Extending past work on the assessment of empathy, this study introduces a newly developed set of emotion-eliciting film clips that can be used to assess both cognitive (emotion perception) and affective (emotional congruence and sympathy) facets of empathy in vivo. Using the relived emotions paradigm, film protagonists were instructed to think aloud about an autobiographical, emotional event from working life and relive their emotions while being videotaped. Subsequently, protagonists were asked to provide self-reports of the intensity of their emotions during retelling their event. In a first study with 128 employees, who watched the film clips and rated their own as well as the protagonists' emotions, we found that the film clips are effective in eliciting moderate levels of emotions as well as sympathy in the test taker and can be used to calculate reliable convergence scores of emotion perception and emotional congruence. Using a selected subset of six film clips, a second two-wave study with 99 employees revealed that all facet-specific measures of empathy had moderate-to-high internal consistencies and test-retest reliabilities, and correlated in expected ways with other self-report and test-based empathy tests, cognition, and demographic variables. With these films, we expand the choice of testing materials for empathy in organizational research to cover a larger array of research questions.
Assuntos
Emoções , Empatia , Cognição , Humanos , Filmes CinematográficosRESUMO
The ability to choose emotion regulation strategies in accordance to contextual demands, known as emotion regulation flexibility, is key to healthy adaptation. While recent investigations on spontaneous emotion regulation choice tested the effects of emotional intensity and age using standardized negative pictures with no particular emotional quality, we elicited the discrete emotion of anger with personally relevant autobiographical memories in a sample of 52 younger and 41 older adults. In addition, we included habitual reappraisal as a predictor of emotion regulation choice. Our main hypothesis was that, compared with younger adults, older adults prefer less resource-demanding emotion regulation strategies (i.e., distraction) over more resource-demanding strategies (i.e., reappraisal), particularly if older adults' habitual reappraisal is low and the to-be-regulated anger is of high intensity. Surprisingly, our findings suggest that only older adults' emotion regulation choices depend on the emotional intensity of the autobiographical memory and habitual reappraisal. Only older adults with high habitual reappraisal preferred to reappraise their anger in situations of low anger intensity but switched to the less demanding strategy of distraction in high anger memories, indicating emotion regulation flexibility. This study extends previous research by testing emotion regulation choices in natural contexts and considering regulation habits. Although we replicate previous findings of emotion regulation flexibility according to emotional intensity in anger memories for older adults with high habitual reappraisal only, our findings illustrate the relevance of reappraisal habits to emotion regulation choice in age-comparative research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Regulação Emocional , Memória Episódica , Idoso , Ira , Emoções/fisiologia , HumanosRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Social mimicry, the imitation of one's conversation partner, is associated with empathy, liking, and affiliation. Because previous research has mainly focused on young adulthood and zero acquaintances, little is known about age differences in mimicry and its role in romantic relationships. METHODS: In this study, 37 younger and 41 older couples talked about an ongoing problem faced by one of the partners while being video-recorded. Three independent observers assessed partners' facial mimicry. After the conversation, couples evaluated the quality of their relationship. RESULTS: Younger couples imitated each other more than older couples. The link between mimicry and relationship quality was mixed. While facial mimicry was not linked to subjective closeness in either younger or older couples, there was a significant positive association between mimicry and relationship satisfaction in young, but not older, couples. DISCUSSION: Overall, the results suggest that facial mimicry is a social process that becomes less prevalent and might differ in their function as individuals age.
Assuntos
Amor , Satisfação Pessoal , Adulto , Emoções , Humanos , Comportamento Imitativo , Relações Interpessoais , Adulto JovemRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Cumulative burden of vascular risk factors (VRFs) has been linked to an increased risk of depressed mood. However, the role of age in this association is still unclear. Here, we investigated whether VRF burden is associated with levels and changes in depressed mood and whether these associations become stronger or weaker from mid- to later life. METHOD: We used longitudinal data from 5,689 participants (52-89 years) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. A composite score incorporated the presence of 5 VRFs: hypertension, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia. Second-order latent growth models were used to test whether levels and changes of depressed mood differed as a function of baseline VRF burden, and whether these associations were moderated by age. RESULTS: Baseline VRF burden showed a small association with higher levels of depressed mood (estimate = 0.081; 95% CI: 0.024, 0.138, p = .005). This association varied with age, such that it was stronger in midlife compared to later life (estimate = -0.007; 95% CI: -0.013, -0.002, p = .017). There was no evidence that VRF burden was associated with changes in depressed mood. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that VRF burden in midlife, but less so in later life, predicts individual differences in depressed mood. These findings are consistent with reports on the importance of midlife VRFs and support the idea that promotion of vascular health in this age group or earlier in life may be critical to maintain mental health across adulthood.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Depressão , Hipertensão , Fatores Etários , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento/fisiologia , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Depressão/epidemiologia , Depressão/fisiopatologia , Feminino , Fatores de Risco de Doenças Cardíacas , Humanos , Hipertensão/epidemiologia , Hipertensão/psicologia , Perspectiva de Curso de Vida , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Medição de Risco , Fatores de RiscoRESUMO
Research on time-fluctuating links between positive affect and cortisol is inconsistent and mostly based on young to middle-aged samples. The current project investigated how moment-to-moment changes in positive and negative affect are associated with moment-to-moment changes in cortisol levels in older adults' daily lives and whether those associations are moderated by differences in health status (as indicated by the number of comorbidities). Affect and cortisol data collected in four separately conducted momentary assessment studies with parallel protocols were pooled to obtain a sample of N=476 individuals aged 56-88 years (Mage=71.9, SD=6.6; 52% female). Participants provided affect reports and collected salivary cortisol 5-7 times a day for a 7-day period and reported the presence of 13 different health conditions. Data were analyzed using multilevel models, with time since waking, daily behaviors associated with cortisol secretion, age, and sex controlled. Feeling more positive affect than usual was associated with lower momentary cortisol. In contrast, feeling more negative affect than usual was associated with higher momentary cortisol. Associations of momentary positive and negative affect with cortisol were weaker among participants in worse as compared to those in better health. Trait positive affectivity was associated with more curvature of waking cortisol profiles and trait negative affectivity was associated with smaller cortisol awakening responses. Findings suggest that HPA axis responses fluctuate with everyday changes in positive and negative affect in older adults, and that higher HPA reactivity may indicate preserved health in this age group.
Assuntos
Afeto , Envelhecimento , Hidrocortisona , Saliva , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento/psicologia , Humanos , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisário , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Sistema Hipófise-Suprarrenal , Saliva/químicaRESUMO
Although the benefits of positive affect in old age have been well established, little is known about the late-life salience or adaptive value of discrete positive emotions that have contrasting motivational functions. In two studies, we examined the prevalence and health consequences of individual differences in positive emotions posited to motivate a present-focused mindset that fosters rest and recovery (calmness) or a future-focused mindset that motivates pursuit of novelty and stimulation (excitement). Study 1 was based on a 1-week daily diary study (n = 146) that assessed the salience of these discrete emotions in older adults (M age = 75, SD = 6.82) relative to younger adults (M age = 23, SD = 3.91). Results from multilevel models showed that older adults experienced higher average levels of calmness and lower levels of excitement in comparison to younger adults. Study 2 was based on a 10-year study (n = 336, M age = 75, SD = 6.64) and examined the longitudinal health consequences of individual differences in calmness and excitement for older adults who perceived varying levels of control over their life circumstances. Results from multilevel growth models showed that calmness, but not excitement, buffered against longitudinal declines in psychological well-being (perceived stress, depressive symptoms) and physical health (physical symptoms, chronic conditions) for older adults experiencing low control circumstances. Findings inform theories of emotional aging in showing that positive emotions with disparate motivational functions become more or less salient with age and have diverging consequences for health in late life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/psicologia , Nível de Alerta , Doença Crônica/psicologia , Emoções , Envelhecimento Saudável/psicologia , Motivação , Prazer , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Controle Interno-Externo , Masculino , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Subjective age, how old people feel compared to their chronological age, is a central indicator of age identity and highly predictive for developmental outcomes. While mostly used as a trait-like concept in previous research, recent studies employing experimental designs and daily assessments suggest that subjective age can vary after experimental manipulations or between days. However, less is known about whether subjective age varies over even shorter time frames such as within moments on a given day, how such short-term variability differs by age and its association with trait subjective age. We examined these questions with data obtained from 123 young-old (Mage = 67.19 years) and 47 old-old adults (Mage = 86.59 years) who reported their momentary subjective age six times a day over 7 consecutive days as they were going about their everyday lives. Participants felt younger on a large majority of occasions, and 25% of the total variability in subjective age could be attributed to within-person variation. Within-person variability in subjective age amounted to an average of about 3 years from one moment to the next and did not differ between age groups. However, those with younger trait subjective ages exhibited larger moment-to-moment variation. Our findings extend the literature on subjective age by showing that how old people feel can vary on a momentary basis and that state and trait components of subjective age are related. Further research should investigate the contextual predictors of variability in subjective age and the links between trait and state concepts and developmental outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/psicologia , Avaliação Momentânea Ecológica/normas , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Empathy-which typically instigates prosocial behavior-comprises both cognitive and affective facets. Research suggests that the cognitive facet of empathy (empathic accuracy) declines with age, whereas the affective facets of empathy (emotional congruence and sympathy) remain stable or increase with age. Going beyond main effects of age, we tested whether working in occupations with varying emotional job demands (EJDs) moderates the effects of age on empathy. We predicted that emotionally demanding occupations provide opportunities to practice empathy and, as a result, may lessen the negative relationship between age and empathic accuracy and/or strengthen the (positive) relationship between age and the affective facets of empathy. A sample of 128 employees (19-65 years) who differed in self-reported EJDs was recruited. Participants viewed film clips portraying different persons retelling a work event during which they experienced positive or negative emotions. After each clip, participants rated the intensity of the protagonist's and their own emotions. Consistent with prior research, our analyses revealed a negative association between age and empathic accuracy, while there were no age differences in emotional congruence and a positive association between age and sympathy. Only the relationship between age and emotional congruence was moderated by EJDs. Contrary to our prediction, relatively older employees in emotionally demanding jobs experienced lower emotional congruence than younger employees. This may suggest that people learn about the double-edged nature of sharing other's feelings as they progress in their career, and thus, keep a healthy distance. Implications for age-comparative research on prosocial processes across adulthood are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Emoções/fisiologia , Empatia/fisiologia , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Subjective social status is defined as the perceived social standing of a person in a social hierarchy and may change across time. Although the link between subjective social status and well-being is widely recognized, the dynamic nature of changes in subjective social status across the life span is not well understood. We predicted that gains and losses in subjective social status will be associated with changes in positive and negative affect over time. This link should be particularly evident in middle adulthood because the desire for social status might be more important in midlife than in later adulthood. Specifically, we argue that social status gains in midlife may facilitate generativity, a developmental task in this period of the life span that arguably contributes not only to the well-being of others but also oneself. Our analyses of a 10-year longitudinal study (N = 2,306, 40-84 years at T1) using latent change score models suggested that individuals, who lose (or gain) social status (i.e., change their perceived position on the social status ladder), experience an increase (decrease) in negative affect and a decrease (increase) in positive affect. As predicted, these associations were stronger, and in fact only significant, for middle-aged (40-64 years), but not older (65-84 years) adults. Finally, in middle-aged adults, the effects of status changes on changes in affective well-being were mediated by generativity. This pattern of findings suggests that changes in subjective social status are more self-relevant in midlife and may become less relevant to affective well-being as people age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).