Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Carstensen, Laura L.; Shavit, Yochai Z; Barnes, Jessica T

doi:10.1177/0956797620967261

Cited by 223 publications

(228 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…These findings demonstrate that the age advantages occur across a wide range of countries and cultures, attesting to its robustness. Moreover, our results fully replicate the findings reported by Carstensen et al (2020), showing that the age advantages are present also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during the prolonged stressor of the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are thus able to employ the cognitive and behavioural assets of aging to avoid negative emotional experiences and to increase positive emotional experiences.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Participants' answers could be understood as a mixture of their perceptions of both frequency and intensity. Following the approach of Carstensen et al (2020), we calculated positive emotional experiences by averaging the scores from the 10 positive emotional experiences, and negative emotional experiences by averaging the scores from the 10 negative emotional experiences.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individual-level Control Variables. We attempted to approximate as closely as possible the control variables used by Carstensen et al (2020). Our measures of gender, employment status, and education level were equivalent to those in their study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study 1 sought to test the generalisability of the age advantages during the pandemic as reported by Carstensen et al (2020). Their study was based on a representative sample from the United States.…”

Section: Study 1 the Age Advantages Around The World During The Covidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The COVID-19 pandemic presents a challenge to emotional wellbeing in general (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020), but in particular to the wellbeing of older individuals, due to their increased risk of serious illness and death (Jordan et al, 2020). In a recent study, Carstensen et al (2020) demonstrated that the age advantages persist during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that older adults are able to utilise cognitive and behavioural strategies to ameliorate even sustained stress. Here, we build on Carstensen and colleagues' work with two studies.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustained stress reduces the age advantages in emotional experience of older adults

Sun¹,

Sauter²

2020

Preprint

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Getting old is generally seen as unappealing, yet aging confers considerable advantages in several psychological domains (North & Fiske, 2015). In particular, older adults are better off emotionally than younger adults, with aging associated with the so-called “age advantages,” that is, more positive and less negative emotional experiences (Carstensen et al., 2011). Although the age advantages are well established, it is less clear whether they occur under conditions of prolonged stress. In a recent study, Carstensen et al (2020) demonstrated that the age advantages persist during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that older adults are able to utilise cognitive and behavioural strategies to ameliorate even sustained stress. Here, we build on Carstensen and colleagues’ work with two studies. In Study 1, we provide a large-scale test of the robustness of Carstensen and colleagues’ finding that older individuals experience more positive and less negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. We measured positive and negative emotions along with age information in 23,629 participants in 63 countries in April-May 2020. In Study 2, we provide a comparison of the age advantages using representative samples collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate that older people experience less negative emotion than younger people during the prolonged stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the advantage of older adults was diminished during the pandemic, pointing to a likely role of older adults use of situation selection strategies (Charles, 2010).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study 1 the Age Advantages Around The World During The Covidmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustained stress reduces the age advantages in emotional experience of older adults

Sun¹,

Sauter²

2020

Preprint

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Psychological Resilience and Frailty Progression in Older Adults

Ye,

Li,

Bao

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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ImportanceThe association between psychological resilience (PR) and frailty progression in older adults is not fully understood.ObjectiveTo investigate the longitudinal associations between PR and its changes (ΔPR) with frailty progression among older adults.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsData were collected from a community-based prospective cohort study conducted in Shanghai from 2020 to 2023. Older adults aged 60 years and above were recruited at baseline and completed follow-up assessments. Statistical analysis was performed from May to July 2024.ExposuresPR was assessed using the 25-item Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). ΔPR was calculated using the difference between 3-year follow-up and baseline CD-RISC scores. Multiple key covariates were included such as demographics, health behaviors, social participation, and chronic diseases.Main Outcomes and MeasuresFrailty was evaluated using the Chinese Frailty Screening Scale-10. Frailty progression was categorized into 3 groups (improvement, stability, and deterioration) by the difference assessment between 3-year follow-up and baseline.ResultsA total of 4033 participants were included in the study (mean [SD] age, 71.0 [6.1] years; 2257 [56.0%] women). Over a 3-year follow-up period, 1142 participants (28.3%) experienced an improvement in frailty, 1200 (29.8%) experienced stability, and 1691 (41.9%) exhibited deterioration. After controlling for confounding variables, a significant association was found between PR and future frailty, particularly when baseline frailty scores were at least 3 vs 2 or lower (β, −0.136 [95% CI, −0.214 to −0.057] vs −0.020 [-95% CI, −0.052 to 0.012]; P for interaction &lt; .001). A similar association was observed between PR and frailty improvement (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.28 [95% CI, 1.05 to 1.57]). Furthermore, ΔPR displayed a significant association with frailty, exhibiting a nonlinear association that was stronger when ΔPR was less than 0 vs when ΔPR was greater than 0 (β,−0.186 [95% CI, −0.228 to −0.145] vs −0.068 [95% CI, −0.107 to −0.029]; P for nonlinear &lt; .001). Similarly, ΔPR was significantly associated with frailty progression, indicating both improvement (adjusted OR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.19 to 1.42]) and deterioration (adjusted OR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.69 to 0.80]). These associations were more pronounced among older adults with higher levels of baseline frailty.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cohort study of community-dwelling older adults, a longitudinal association between PR and frailty progression was found. The results suggest that monitoring changes in PR can help forecast future frailty trajectories, particularly highlighting the need to support individuals facing declines in resilience. Targeted interventions that prioritize enhancing PR have potential to prevent and ameliorate frailty.

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Mental journey to the future and memory for future thoughts during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown

Migueles Seco,

Aizpurua Sanz

2023

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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This study analyzes the production and recall of future thoughts during the COVID‐19 lockdown. Participants were free to produce future thoughts (Experiment 1) or received cues to promote production (Experiment 2), and then were asked to recall as many of the future thoughts produced as possible. The Valence (positive vs. negative) and the Event Type (personal vs. collective) thoughts were considered. In production and recall, there were no global differences between the positive and negative thoughts in Experiment 1, whereas in Experiment 2 the cues led to more positive than negative ones. More importantly, a Valence × Event Type interaction was observed in both experiments for production and recall data, indicating a positivity bias for personal and a negativity bias for collective future thinking. These findings contribute to a better understanding of mental time travel in situations as complex as the COVID‐19 pandemic.

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Age Advantages in Emotional Experience Persist Even Under Threat From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 223 publications

References 41 publications

Sustained stress reduces the age advantages in emotional experience of older adults

Sustained stress reduces the age advantages in emotional experience of older adults

Psychological Resilience and Frailty Progression in Older Adults

Mental journey to the future and memory for future thoughts during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown

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