Mental health and the baby boomers. Lang FR, Staudinger UM, Carstensen LL. By manipulating the importance of emotional goals, researchers have illustrated situations where age-related increases in memory for emotion-related stimuli are found; there are situations where these age differences in memory performance disappear completely (see review by Carstensen et al., 2006). Compared with younger adults, older adults remembered a greater proportion of positive images relative to neutral and negative ones. The glucocorticoid cascade hypothesis describes how age is related to a decreased ability to down-regulate the further activation of this stress cycle (Sapolsky, Krey, & McEwen, 1986; Wilkinson, Peskind, & Raskind, 1997; Wilkinson et al., 2001; but see Kudielka, Buske-Kirschbaum, Hellhammer, & Kirschbaum, 2004). However, it appears that the story is even more complicated. Older age is related to less affective reactivity when people report that they found themselves in a tense social situation but chose not to engage in the argument; when people report having the argument, younger, middle, and older adults all show similar rises in affective distress (Charles, Piazza, Luong, & Almeida, in press). When evaluating different health insurance options, older adults attended to and recalled more positive than negative aspects of the different options when they evaluated their options after they were instructed to think about how they were feeling while engaged in the task (Lckenhoff & Carstensen, 2007). Gruenewald TL, Karlamangla AS, Greendale GA, Singer BH, Seeman TE. This issue is characterized by a wide selection of methodological approaches, reflecting the complexity of the emotional aging phenomenon. But generally speaking, the closeness and importance of relationships is more important than network size in old age. van Gelder BM, Tijhuis M, Kalmijn S, Giampaoli S, Nissinen A, Kromhout D. Marital status and living situation during a 5-year period are associated with a subsequent 10-year cognitive decline in older men: the FINE Study. Psychol. Social support is related not only to staving off decline, but also to regaining functioning; stronger social networks and emotional support assessed soon after a stroke are associated with greater improvements in cognitive functioning six months later even after controlling for age and education (Glymour, Weuve, Fay, Glass, & Berkman, 2008). Front. Aging 27, 305317. People high in neuroticism often dwell on past events and have more negative reactions to recurring problems in a pattern known as the neurotic cascade (Suls & Martin, 2005). Working memory is dependent not only on biological factors influencing white matter integrity, but also on motivational influences.
For example, older adults who were allowed to attend to positive, negative, and neutral images remembered more positive than negative images (Mather & Knight, 2005). Birditt KS, Fingerman KL. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00469.x, Buhle, J. T., Silvers, J. Similarly, older adults are just as attentive to threatening stimuli as are younger adults (Mather & Knight, 2006). Hess builds on work suggesting that in the United States, cultural norms about judgments of social behavior guide people to weigh negative information about a persons moral character such as the extent to which a person is honest or wicked more heavily than information about a persons abilities such as his or her athletic or intellectual prowess. Newsom JT, Mahan TL, Rook KS, Krause N. Stable negative social exchanges and health. They also recommend these more passive strategies to others who are faced with negative interpersonal situations (Charles, Carstensen, & McFall, 2001). This construct is often defined in terms of happiness, life satisfaction, or the balance between positive and negative affect. J. Vis. For example, the vasculature, including veins, arteries, and aortic-pulmonary valves, thicken and become less flexible with age. Recent studies show that early relationships have effects on social, emotional, and physical functioning that extend into adulthood (e.g., Antonucci, Akiyama, Takahashi, 2004; Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Myers, & Robinson, 2007; Shaver, Belsky, & Brennan, 2000). Instead of learning from experience and becoming better at maintaining well-being, people high in neuroticism experience high levels of negative affect and are at increased risk for depression (e.g., Kendler, Gatz, Gardner, & Pedersen, 2006). Received: 09 July 2014; Accepted: 21 August 2014; Published online: 09 September 2014. We suggest that by integrating information about age-related changes, we can predict the circumstances necessary for continued reports of strong social network ties and high levels of emotional and physical well-being, as well as circumstances that may lead to significant distress in old age. However, an apparent pruning process appears to begin in peoples thirties and forties, long before the age-related losses begin (Carstensen, 1992). Psychol. In: Hoare C, editor. Republished in. (2011). However, current psychological research shows that emotion is relatively unaffected by aging or even improves with age, in contrast to most cognitive functions (Scheibe and Carstensen, 2010). For example, commonly used questionnaires query people about emotions experienced across the prior few weeks (Affect Balance Scale: Bradburn, 1969; Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression: Radloff, 1977) or the prior month (psychological distress: Kessler et al., 2002). They also reported that their social partner would feel less sadness than did the younger adults. Reppetti, Taylor, and Seeman (2002) argue convincingly that among children who are genetically vulnerable, the experience of cold and neglectful families in childhood alters functioning of brain systems (e.g., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) that regulate stress in enduring ways which can lead to chronic disease and early death. and transmitted securely. Novartis Foundation Symposium 242 - Endocrine Facets of Ageing. Below we turn to the biological systems that underlie aging. As emotions are central to daily functioning, it is important to understand how aging affects perception, memory, experience, as well as regulation of emotions. A growing number of studies are targeting cognitionemotion interactions. Front. (2014) young and older participants viewed emotional pictures, that varied in arousal, and rated them for emotional content. Sci. People who had childhoods marked by emotional neglect or adversity are more likely to report smaller social networks and feeling emotionally isolated from others in old age (Wilson et al., 2006). Science 312, 19131915. Thoughts either current appraisals or memories for prior events - guide behavior. Wilson RS, Krueger KR, Arnold SE, Barnes LL, Mendes de Leon CF, Bienias JL, Bennett DA. The benefits of structural aspects of social networks on cognitive functioning among older adults pertain to the larger social context as well, as measured by characteristics of the neighborhood or the overall lifestyle of the individual (see review by Barnes, Cagney, & Mendes de Leon, 2008). Among older adults, history of childhood physical or sexual abuse is related to poorer physical and mental health (Draper et al., 2008) as well as poorer cognitive functioning (Luecken, 2006). Decreased hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis sensitivity to cortisol feedback inhibition in human aging. Aging and Health. Everyday stressors and gender differences in daily distress. Soc. Carstensen LL, Pasupathi M, Mayr U, Nesselroade JR. Magai C, Consedine NS, Krivoshekova YS, Kudadjie-Gyamfi E, McPherson R. Emotion experience and expression across the adult life span: Insights from a multimodal assessment study. Minkler M, Fuller-Thomson E, Miller D, Driver D. Depression in grandparents raising grandchildren: results of a national longitudinal study. Cacioppo JT, Hughes ME, Waite LJ, Hawkley LC, Thisted RA. Barnes LL, Mendes de Leon CF, Wilson RS, Bienias JL, Evans DA. Snapping at someone with a fast retort may not be as wise as pausing before responding to an interpersonal slight. Social embeddedness and psychological well-being among African Americans and whites. In: Craik FIM, Salthouse TA, editors. When recalling information about a laboratory task, the performance of older adults is marked by a greater focus on emotional rather than on perceptual details (Johnson, Nolde, & De Leonardis, 1996; Mather, Johnson, & De Leonardis, 1999). Ready RE, Weinberger MI, Jones KM. Proc. Unpleasant situations elicit different emotional responses in younger and older adults. Older age is related to increases in the ability to regulate the emotions. Older adults also report fewer negative interactions with members of their social networks than do younger adults (Birditt & Fingerman, 2003), and smaller increases in distress when they encounter interpersonal tensions (Birditt, Fingerman, & Almeida, 2005). To understand the full influence of social relationships on mental, physical, and cognitive health in adulthood, assessing the current circumstances of older adults is insufficient. Piazza JR, Charles ST, Almeida DM. Charles ST, Almeida DM. Expanding current research to more diverse samples coupled with continuous use of advanced methodology will move forward this emerging field. With experience and age, however, many of lifes negative lessons have been learned. Adult age-differences in subjective impression of emotional faces are reflected in emotion-related attention and memory tasks. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 5:996. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00996. doi: 10.1037/a0021285, Cassidy, B. S., and Gutchess, A. H. (2012). The effect size of strong social networks is comparable to traditional medical indicators such as high cholesterol and smoking. Levenson RW. Studies often reveal age-related differences in performances that parallel the age-related declines in brain structure. Compromised physical functioning renders effortful some social activities that once were completed with ease. Handbook of aging and cognition, 2nd edition. Hughes TF, Andel R, Small BJ, Borenstein AR, Mortimer JA. Indeed, early experiences predict physical and mental health outcomes later in life. When faced with high levels of sustained arousal, however, vulnerability resulting from decreased flexibility may prolong the emotional experience for older adults and leave them more vulnerable to emotional distress. Parkinsons disease is associated with reduced emotional expressivity (Simons et al., 2004). B Psychol. (2014). Dolcos et al. Johnson MK, Nolde SF, De Leonardis DM. In her study, only people who reported positive social relations benefitted from the contact. When situations creating high levels of distress are unavoidable, age-related advantages in well-being disappear and may even reverse in direction (Charles & Piazza, in press). Exposure and reactivity to negative social exchanges: A preliminary investigation using daily diary data.
