Abstract:

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.

Key words: experience of sadness, emotion-regulation strategies, personality straits, older adults and younger adults

摘要：

考察了日常人际问题解决中老年人的悲伤情绪体验和情绪调节策略与青年人的差异，以及年龄和人格特质的作用。共45名老年人和59名青年人接受半结构化访谈和人格特质测量。结果表明：（1）以教育水平为协变量的方差分析表明，老年人和青年人的悲伤情绪体验没有显著差异。老年人的被动情绪调节策略的使用和青年人存在显著差异；（2）老年人的被动情绪调节策略不但与年龄有关，而且与悲伤情绪体验有关。悲伤情绪体验可以显著预测其被动情绪调节策略使用；（3）老年人的悲伤情绪体验与人格特质神经质维度存在显著正相关；（4）老年人与年轻人的被动情绪调节策略都与悲伤情绪有关，但老年人的被动情绪调节策略不能由人格特质显著预测，而青年人的被动调节策略还可以由人格特质内外向维度显著预测。人格特质的内外向维度对老年人和青年人的前摄性情绪调节策略的预测效应是一致的。最后针对老年人的悲伤情绪体验和情绪调节策略的意义进行了讨论。

关键词: 悲伤情绪体验, 情绪调节策略, 人格特质, 老年人和青年人