PDF(601 KB)
Experience of sadness and emotion-regulation strategies in handling everyday interpersonal problems in older adults: the role of age and personality straits
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2012, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (1) : 111-116.
PDF(601 KB)
PDF(601 KB)
Experience of sadness and emotion-regulation strategies in handling everyday interpersonal problems in older adults: the role of age and personality straits
This paper explored the experience of sadness and emotion-regulation strategies in older adults, and the role of age and personality straits by comparison with younger adults in everyday interpersonal problem solving. Forty-five older adults and 59 younger adults were interviewed. Participants were asked to describe some interpersonal problems they had experienced in the past year and how they had handled specific emotions in problem situations. The coding scheme for the emotion-regulation response (i.e., “What strategies did you use to handle each emotion?”) included nine specific strategies grouped into three higher order categories, as in previous research: cognitive analysis, planful problem solving, and regulation–inclusion of others (instrumental problem solving); avoidance– denial– escape, managing reactions through suppression, and passive–dependence (passive emotion regulation); and managing reactions through confrontive emotional coping, reflection on emotions, and seeking social support (proactive emotion regulation). All participants completed Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale for Chinese (EPQ-RSC). Results showed that, (1) Older adults reported the same experiences of sadness as younger adults when the education level as a covariate variable. Older adults used more passive emotion-regulation strategies than younger adults, (2) the passive emotion-regulation strategy in older adults not only was affected by age, also was significantly predicted by the experience of sadness, (3) there was a significant positive correlation between sadness experience and neuroticism of personality traits in older adults, and（4）the passive emotion-regulation strategy was significantly predicted by the experience of sadness for old adults, but the effect of Extraversion was not found as the case of younger adults. Extraversion of personality traits played the same effect on using proactive emotional regulation strategies for older adults as younger adults. The findings indicate effect pattern of age and personality traits on the experience of sadness and emotion-regulation strategies in adults was different from that in younger adults in the context of everyday intrapersonal problems.
experience of sadness / emotion-regulation strategies / personality straits / older adults and younger adults
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