Emotional complexity in younger, midlife, and older adults.

ABSTRACT

Questions pertaining to emotional complexity in adult development are being pursued from a number of vantage points. The current studies sought to clarify the study of emotional complexity by comparing and contrasting 2 dominant perspectives on emotional complexity in different age groups (i.e., covariation and absolute-level approaches). Results indicate that emotional complexity is a multifaceted construct and that methodology will impact substantive findings and developmental trends that emerge from the data. Recommendations and considerations for future research are discussed, including, for example, within- versus cross-domain ideas of emotional complexity.