Age and Cognitive Ability Predict Emotion Regulation Strategy Use.
Objectives This study examines how age and cognitive ability predict use of different emotion regulation strategies in a laboratory task eliciting emotions varying in valence and arousal. Methods Participants (N = 287) aged 25–85 completed the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery and an emotion regulation...
| Published in: | Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Vol. 78; no. 6; pp. 987 - 998 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jun2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=163956902&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 163956902 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10795014 JGB jtl: Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences issn: 10795014 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2023 vid: 78 iid: 6 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 163956902 10.1093/geronb/gbad021 ppf: 987 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Age and Cognitive Ability Predict Emotion Regulation Strategy Use. aug: au: Growney, Claire M English, Tammy affil: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis, Missouri , USA su: Well-being Arousal (Physiology) Age distribution Distraction Motivation (Psychology) Cognition Task performance Emotions Old age Research funding Emotion regulation sug: subj: Well-being Arousal (Physiology) Age distribution Distraction Motivation (Psychology) Cognition Task performance Emotions Old age Research funding Emotion regulation keyword: Context Engagement Motivation Positivity effect Context Engagement Motivation Positivity effect ab: Objectives This study examines how age and cognitive ability predict use of different emotion regulation strategies in a laboratory task eliciting emotions varying in valence and arousal. Methods Participants (N = 287) aged 25–85 completed the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery and an emotion regulation task in a laboratory setting. They watched a series of emotional clips (disgust, sadness, amusement, and contentment) under instructions to increase positive emotions or decrease negative emotions. After each clip, they rated the extent to which they used emotion regulation strategies that involve different types of engagement with emotional stimuli and disengagement from emotional stimuli. Results Older age was predictive of greater use of immersive-engagement strategies (e.g. perspective taking) and less use of disengagement strategies (e.g. distraction). Fluid cognitive ability was positively associated with immersive-engagement strategy use, particularly for high-arousal clips. For older adults, fluid cognitive ability was also associated with using positive-engagement strategies (e.g. positive reappraisal) to a greater extent to regulate negative emotions. Discussion Patterns of emotion regulation strategy use varied by age, even when accounting for differences in reactivity. Findings suggest that older adults may not necessarily prefer strategies that are lower in cognitive demands or that focus on enhancing positivity. Results support the idea that strategy preferences are driven by a combination of characteristics of the regulator and the regulation context. The relevance of cognitive resources likely varies across situations, perhaps being most consequential for deeper processing of high-arousal stimuli and for older adults' engagement with positive aspects of an otherwise negative situation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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