Intraindividual variability in positive and negative affect over 45 days: Do older adults fluctuate less than young adults?
- 1 December 2009
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Psychology and Aging
- Vol. 24 (4), 863-878
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016276
Abstract
Opposing scenarios about age-related increases and decreases in intraindividual variability are found in the literature: Whereas accumulating evidence indicates that cognitive functioning is characterized by an age-related increase of short-term variability, age-related decreases in variability could be expected in affective states on the basis of theories of emotion regulation and self development. We examined age differences in intraindividual variability of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and in contingencies among daily affect, daily stress, and daily events using tip to 45 daily assessments of 18 young (20-30 years) and 19 older (70-80 years) adults. Whereas age groups differed little in average affect levels, older adults showed significantly less variability in PA and NA than young adults. Age differences accounted for greater variance in variability than personality factors. Multilevel modeling indicated that for young but not older adults, PA was higher (lower) on days with a positive (negative) event, and NA was lower on days with a positive event. There were no age differences in daily affect reactivity to appraised stress severity.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reported exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors: The roles of adult age and global perceived stress.Psychology and Aging, 2008
- Variability in affective change among aging men: Longitudinal findings from the VA Normative Aging StudyJournal of Research in Personality, 2006
- A Procedure for Evaluating Sensitivity to Within-Person Change: Can Mood Measures in Diary Studies Detect Change Reliably?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2006
- The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?Psychological Bulletin, 2005
- Dynamic Approaches to Emotions and Stress in Everyday Life: Bolger and Zuckerman Reloaded With Positive as Well as Negative AffectsJournal of Personality, 2005
- Change in Life Satisfaction During Adulthood: Findings From the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005
- The space of state vectors: A hyperfinite approachJournal of Mathematical Physics, 2003
- Age-related patterns of variability in self-descriptions: Implications for everyday affective experience.Psychology and Aging, 2003
- Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001
- Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000