Older age is normatively associated with losses in physical, cognitive, and social domains. Despite these losses, older adults often report higher levels of well-being than do younger adults. How can we explain this enhancement of well-being? In this article, we consider one possible explanation, namely, that older adults show enhanced emotion regulation. Specifically, we propose that older adults achieve well-being by selecting and optimizing particular emotion regulation processes to compensate for changes in internal and external resources. With this framework in mind, we suggest several directions for future research.
BaltesP.B.BaltesM.M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In BaltesP.B.BaltesM.M. (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). New York: Cambridge University Press.
2.
CacioppoJ.T.BerntsonG.G.BecharaA.TranelD.HawkleyL.C. (in press). Could an aging brain contribute to subjective well being? The value added by a social neuroscience perspective. In TodorovA.Fiske,S.T.PrenticeD. (Eds.), Social neuroscience: Toward understanding the underpinnings of the social mind. New York: Oxford University Press.
3.
CacioppoJ.T.HawkleyL.C.KalilA.HughesM.E.WaiteL.ThistedR.A. (2008). Happiness and the invisible threads of social connection: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. In EidM.LarsenR. (Eds.), The science of well-being (pp. 195–219). New York: Guilford.
4.
CarstensenL.L. (1993). Motivation for social contact across the life span: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. In JacobsJ.E. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 209–254). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
5.
CarstensenL.L.FungH.CharlesS. (2003). Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 103–123.
6.
CarstensenL.L.GrossJ.J.FungH. (1998). The social context of emotional experience. In SchaieK.W.LawtonM.P. (Eds.), Annual review of gerontology and geriatrics (pp. 325–352). Vol. 17, New York: Springer.
7.
CharlesS.T.PiazzaJ.R.LuongG.AlmeidaD.M. (2009). Now you see it, now you don’t: Age differences in affective reactivity to social tensions. Psychology and Aging, 24, 645–653.
8.
CharlesS.T.ReynoldsC.A.GatzM. (2001). Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 136–151.
9.
GilbertD.T.PinelE.C.WilsonT.D.BlumbergS.J.WheatleyT. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617–638.
10.
GrossJ.J. (1998). Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 224–237.
11.
GrossJ.J.CarstensenL.L.PasupathiM.TsaiJ.SkorpenC.G.HsuA.Y.C. (1997). Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control. Psychology and Aging, 12, 590–599.
12.
IsaacowitzD.TonerK.GorenD.WilsonH. (2008). Looking while unhappy: Mood-congruent gaze in young adults, positive gaze in older adults. Psychological Science, 19, 848–853.
13.
JohnO.P.GrossJ.J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Journal of Personality, 72, 1301–1333.
OpitzP.RauchL.C.TerryD.P.UrryH.L. (in press). Prefrontal mediation of age differences in cognitive reappraisal. Neurobiology of Aging.
18.
PhillipsL.HenryJ.HosieJ.MilneA. (2008). Effective regulation of the experience and expression of negative affect in old age. Journals of Gerontology, 63B, P138–P145.
19.
ShiotaM.LevensonR. (2009). Effects of aging on experimentally instructed detached reappraisal, positive reappraisal, and emotional behavior suppression. Psychology and Aging, 24, 890–900.
20.
StawskiR.S.AlmeidaD.M.SliwinskiM.J.SmythJ.M. (2008). Reported exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors: The roles of adult age and global perceived stress. Psychology and Aging, 23, 52–61.
