Fewer Ups and Downs: Daily Stressors Mediate Age Differences in Negative Affect
Open Access
- 31 January 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
- Vol. 65B (3), 279-286
- https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbq002
Abstract
The current study examined age differences in daily stressors, positive events (uplifts), and their associations with emotional experience among healthy older women. Women (N = 101, 63–93 years old) reported their daily experiences across 1 week. Older age was related to fewer stressors and less frequent negative affect. However, the association between negative affect and age was no longer significant after accounting for the occurrence of daily stressors. Older age was not significantly related to positive affect, although positive uplifts were reported less frequently with age. Findings provide a contextual explanation for emotional experience in very late life, where reduced exposure to stressors partially explains age-related reductions in negative affect.Keywords
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