Experiential avoidance: A moderator of the relationship between age and emotional expression

Abstract

Objectives: Experiential avoidance (EA) is the unwillingness to remain in contact with particular private experiences, and higher levels of EA are associated with increased psychopathology. This study explored relationships between EA, age, and the use of emotion words in positive and negative autobiographical narratives.

Method: Participants included younger (n = 60) and older adults (n = 60) who completed a measure of EA and described a positive and negative autobiographical narrative.

Results: In the positive autobiographical narrative, there was a significant interaction between age and EA whereby among low EA participants, younger adults used more emotion words than older adults. In the negative autobiographical narrative, there was a main effect of age in which older adults utilized fewer emotional words and a significant interaction whereby among high EA participants, younger adults used more emotion words than older adults.

Conclusion: Results are explained in the developmental context of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen, 1991), which posits that older adults may be more likely to verbally communicate in a style characterized by emotion regulation. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• experiential avoidance
• autobiographical narratives
• aging