Age differences in stress and coping processes.

Abstract

The dramatic increase in the numbers of people who are living into old age has been accompanied by a growing interest among psychologists and health care professionals in their sources of stress and how they cope with them. Despite this interest, little is known about normative stress and coping patterns and the ways in which these patterns differ in older and younger people. This study, which draws on stress and coping theory, compares younger and older community-dwelling adults in daily hassles and eight kinds of coping. Two interpretations of age differences are evaluated: a developmental interpretation, which says that there are inherent, stage-related changes in the ways people cope as they age, and a contextual interpretation, which says that age differences in coping result from changes in what people must cope with. The findings indicate that there are clear age differences in hassles and coping. Overall, the findings tend to support the developmental interpretation, although the contextual interpretation also applies.

Cites (4)

1. The structure of coping
   Pearlin, Leonard I., Schooler, Carmi · 1978 · Journal of Health and Social Behavior
2. If it changes it must be a process: study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination
   Folkman, Susan, Lazarus, Richard S. · 1985 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
3. Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis.
   Susan Folkman · 1984 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. Stress and adaptational outcomes. The problem of confounded measures
   Lazarus, Richard S., DeLongis, Anita, Folkman, Susan, Gruen, Rand · 1985 · American Psychologist

Show all 4 references

Cited by (56)

1. Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping
   Lazarus, Richard S., Folkman, Susan · 1987 · European Journal of Personality
2. 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
3. Aging and motivated cognition: the positivity effect in attention and memory
   Mather, Mara, Carstensen, Laura L. · 2005 · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
4. Coping as a mediator of emotion
   Folkman, Susan, Lazarus, Richard S. · 1988 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
5. A life-span theory of control.
   Heckhausen, Jutta, Schulz, Richard · 1995 · Psychological Review

See all 931