Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control.

Abstract

Age differences in emotional experience, expression, and control were investigated in 4 studies. A community sample of 127 African Americans and European Americans (ages 19-96 years) was used in Study 1; a community sample of 82 Chinese Americans and European Americans (ages 20-85 years) was used in Study 2; a community sample of 49 Norwegians drawn from 2 age groups (ages 20-35 years and 70+ years) was used in Study 3; and a sample of 1,080 American nuns (ages 24-101 years) was used in Study 4. Across studies, a consistent pattern of age differences emerged. Compared with younger participants, older participants reported fewer negative emotional experiences and greater emotional control. Findings regarding emotional expressivity were less consistent, but when there were age differences, older participants reported lesser expressivity. Results are interpreted in terms of increasingly competent emotion regulation across the life span.

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   Gross, James J. · 1998 · Review of General Psychology
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   Gross, James J. · 1998 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development
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5. Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life
   Carstensen, Laura L., Fung, Helene H., Charles, Susan T. · 2003 · Motivation and Emotion

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