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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access originally published online on October 6, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 2009 64B(6):733-741; doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp077
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Rapid Emotion Regulation After Mood Induction: Age and Individual Differences

Mary Jo Larcom and Derek M. Isaacowitz

Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

Address correspondence to Derek M. Isaacowitz, PhD, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, MS 062, Waltham, MA 02454-9110. Email: dmi{at}brandeis.edu


  Abstract

Previous research has suggested that emotion regulation improves with age. This study examined both age and individual differences in online emotion regulation after a negative mood induction. We found evidence that older adults were more likely to rapidly regulate their emotions than were younger adults. Moreover, older adults who rapidly regulated had lower trait anxiety and depressive symptoms and higher levels of optimism than their same-age peers who did not rapidly regulate. Measuring mood change over an extended time revealed that older rapid regulators still reported increased levels of positive affect over 20 min later, whereas young adult rapid regulators’ moods had declined. These results highlight the importance of considering individual differences when examining age differences in online emotion regulation.

Key Words: Age differences • Emotion regulation • Individual differences

Received March 13, 2009; Accepted September 1, 2009

Decision Editor: Rosemary Blieszner, PhD


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