More Positive or Less Negative? Emotional Goals and Emotion Regulation Tactics in Adulthood and Old Age.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Despite declines in physical and cognitive functioning, older adults report higher levels of emotional well-being (Charles, S. T., & Carstensen, L. L. (2010). Social and emotional aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 383-409. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100448). Motivational accounts suggest that differences in goals lead to age-related differences in affect through differences in emotion regulation behaviors, but evidence for age differences in emotion regulation strategy use is inconsistent. Emotion regulation tactics (i.e., how a strategy is implemented) may reveal greater age differences. Specifically, this study tested whether older adults rely more on positivity-seeking or negativity-avoidance tactics and whether goals alter tactic use.

Methods

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SUBMITTER: Wolfe HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9434463 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature