Emotion, Aging, and Health

Although older adults face significant health challenges, they tend to have better emotion regulation skills than younger or middle-age adults. Why is this so? And how might we use this knowledge to promote better health and well-being in adulthood and later life?

This book explores the reciprocal relations between aging and emotion, as well as applications for promoting mental and physical health across the lifespan. The authors discuss the neural and cognitive mechanisms behind age-related shifts in affective experience and processing.

In addition to presenting emotion regulation strategies for offsetting age-related declines in mental and physical functioning, the book examines the role of culture and motivation in shaping emotional experience across the lifespan, as well as the factors defining boundary conditions between human illness and human flourishing in old age.

By highlighting these major advances in interdisciplinary research, the authors suggest promising avenues for intervention.

Contributors

Foreword
Karl Pillemer

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Anthony D. Ong and Corinna E. Löckenhoff

I. Neural and Cognitive Mechanisms

1. Default Mode Network and Later-Life Emotion Regulation: Linking Functional Connectivity Patterns and Emotional Outcomes
   Bruna Martins and Mara Mather
2. Age Differences in Use and Effectiveness of Positivity in Emotion Regulation: The Sample Case of Attention
   Kimberly M. Livingstone and Derek M. Isaacowitz

II. Regulatory Frameworks

3. Resources for Emotion Regulation in Older Age: Linking Cognitive Resources With Cognitive Reappraisal
   Heather L. Urry
4. Regulatory Flexibility and Its Role in Adaptation to Aversive Events Throughout the Lifespan
   Charles L. Burton and George A. Bonanno

III. Motivational Perspectives

5. Happy to Be Unhappy? Pro- and Contrahedonic Motivations From Adolescence to Old Age
   Michaela Riediger and Gloria Luong
6. Emotional Aging in Different Cultures: Implications of Affect Valuation Theory
   Jeanne L. Tsai and Tamara Sims

IV. Health Implications

7. Bridging the Dynamic Aspects of Personality and Emotion That Influence Health
   Emily D. Bastarache and Daniel K. Mroczek
8. Positive Psychological Functioning: An Enduring Asset for Healthy Aging
   Laura D. Kubzansky and Julia K. Boehm
9. Emotional Experience and Health: What We Know, and Where to Go From Here
   Susan T. Charles, Kate A. Leger, and Emily J. Urban

V. Interventions

10. The Humanization of Social Relations: Nourishment for Resilience in Midlife
    Alex J. Zautra, Frank J. Infurna, Eva K. Zautra, Carmen Écija Gallardo, and Lilian Velasco

Index

About the Editors

Anthony D. Ong, PhD, is an associate professor of human development at Cornell University. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California. His research broadly focuses on individual differences in developmental plasticity or the capacity of individuals to flexibly adapt to changing life circumstances with age. A major focus of his recent work involves expanding basic understanding of the behavioral and biological pathways by which positive emotions, interpersonal relationships, and cultural experience contribute to diverse health outcomes in later adulthood. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Aging.

Corinna E. Löckenhoff, PhD, is an associate professor of human development at Cornell University. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Marburg, Germany, and her PhD from Stanford University. Her National Institutes of Health-funded research examines age differences in personality and emotions and their influence on health-related decisions, behaviors, and outcomes. A central goal is to optimize health care choices across the lifespan. Another line of her research examines lifelong trajectories in personality traits and their relation to mental and physical health.