Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling

Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N =...

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Published inPsychology and aging Vol. 26; no. 1; p. 21
Main Authors Carstensen, Laura L, Turan, Bulent, Scheibe, Susanne, Ram, Nilam, Ersner-Hershfield, Hal, Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R, Brooks, Kathryn P, Nesselroade, John R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.03.2011
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Emotions
Female
Happiness
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Personality
Psychological Tests
Socioeconomic Factors
Young Adult
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Summary:Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N = 191, Wave 2; N = 178, Wave 3) reported their emotional states at five randomly selected times each day for a one week period. Using a measurement burst design, the one-week sampling procedure was repeated five and then ten years later. Cross-sectional and growth curve analyses indicate that aging is associated with more positive overall emotional well-being, with greater emotional stability and with more complexity (as evidenced by greater co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions). These findings remained robust after accounting for other variables that may be related to emotional experience (personality, verbal fluency, physical health, and demographic variables). Finally, emotional experience predicted mortality; controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity, individuals who experienced relatively more positive than negative emotions in everyday life were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of socioemotional selectivity theory.
ISSN:1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/a0021285