Emotional complexity and emotional well-being in older adults: Risks of high neuroticism

Abstract

Older and midlife adults tend to report greater emotional complexity and greater emotional well-being than younger adults but there is variability in these factors across the lifespan. This study determined how the personality trait of neuroticism at baseline predicts emotional complexity and emotional well-being 10 years later; a goal was to determine if neuroticism is a stronger predictor of these emotion outcomes with increasing age in adulthood. Data were obtained from two waves of the MIDUS projects (N = 1503; aged 34–84). Greater neuroticism predicted less emotional complexity as indicated by associations between positive and negative affect, particularly for older participants. Neuroticism predicted lower emotional well-being and this association was stronger for older and midlife than for younger adults. Overall, high neuroticism may be a greater liability for poor emotion outcomes for older and perhaps for midlife adults than for younger persons. Clinical and theoretical implications of this conclusion are discussed.

Keywords:

• age
• positive affect
• negative affect
• neuroticism
• older adults
• MIDUS
• emotional complexity
• emotional well-being

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (no. P01-AG020166) to conduct a longitudinal follow-up of the MIDUS (Midlife in the US) investigation. The original study was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. RER was awarded a MIDUS Pilot Grant and DKM also was supported by Grant no. NIA R01-AG18436.

Notes

Note

1. We thank an anonymous reviewer for this idea.