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10 - Emotional resilience and beyond:

a synthesis of findings from lifespan psychology and psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

By
Eva-Marie Kessler  and
Ursula M. Staudinger
Edited by
Prem S. Fry  and
Corey L. M. Keyes
Prem S. Fry
Affiliation:
Trinity Western University, British Columbia
Corey L. M. Keyes
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
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Summary

Abstract

The aim of the chapter is to attempt a synthesis of age-comparative research on emotional resilience. To do so, we integrate extant studies on age-related differences in indicators of normal and successful aging and indicators of psychopathology (emotional well-being/depressive disorders). Our review of empirical findings underscores the enormous emotional reserve capacity of aging individuals proposed by previous research. For example, in contrast to old-age stereotypes, negative affect as well as major depression do not occur more often in old age compared with younger ages; in young old age, negative emotional states even seem to be less frequent. However, positive states decrease in very old age. This is indicated by increasing levels of subsyndromal forms of depression based on anhedonia, but also by decreasing levels of positive, high-arousal affect and social vitality. We also demonstrate that the positive age trends in emotional resilience are to be seen in combination with a flattening of measures of emotional maturity during adulthood and old age.

Introduction

Over the last 20 years, an increasingly large number of studies has provided evidence on age differences and changes in emotional functioning across adulthood and old age, including lifespan psychology (e.g., Carstensen et al., 2000; Charles, Reynolds, and Gatz, 2001; Kessler and Staudinger, 2009), personality psychology (e.g., Donnellan and Lucas, 2008; McCrae et al., 1999) as well as clinical psychology and epidemiology (e.g., Blazer et al., 1991; Wernicke et al., 2000).

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Information
New Frontiers in Resilient Aging
Life-Strengths and Well-Being in Late Life
 , pp. 258 - 282
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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