Emotion regulation mediates age differences in emotions

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed at testing the proposition of socioemotional selectivity theory whether older people would use more antecedent-focused emotion regulatory strategies like cognitive reappraisal but fewer response-focused strategies like suppression. It also aimed at investigating the mediating role of emotion regulation on the relationship between age and emotions.

Method: The sample consisted of 654 younger and older adults aged between 18 and 64.

Results and conclusion: Results showed that age was significantly associated with positive emotions and cognitive reappraisal. No difference was found in negative emotions and suppression between younger and older adults. Cognitive reappraisal partially mediated the effect of age on positive emotions. Findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanism of age variations in emotional experiences.

Keywords:

• age
• emotion
• emotion regulation
• cognitive reappraisal

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by a college research grant of City University of Hong Kong (9610130) awarded to Dannii Yeung.