Supportive people evoke positive affect, but do not reduce negative affect, while supportive groups result from favorable dyadic, not group effects

Abstract Existing scholarship in social gerontology has surprisingly paid little attention to broader loving emotions, such as compassionate and altruistic love, as potentially meaningful mechanisms for improving later life psychological well-being. This study examined the influence of feeling love toward other persons and experiencing love from others on later life psychological well-being. We conducted a 3-wave longitudinal study of a representative sample of 340 ethnically heterogeneous community dwelling older residents of Miami, Florida. The increase in feeling of being loved (β=-1.53, p<0.001) and love for others (β=-1.43, p<0.001) led to decline in odds of reporting greater level of depressive symptoms over time. The odds of reporting higher level of positive affect were significantly greater for older adults who reported feeling loved by others (β=1.16, p<0.001) and expressed love for other people (β=1.18, p<0.01). Older adults who felt loved had 0.92-point lower ordered log odds of reporting higher negative affect than those who reported lower level of love. The impact of compassionate love on depressive symptoms and negative affect remained statistically significant even after adjustment for altruistic attitudes and emotional support. The influence of loving emotions on positive affect was, however, explained by altruistic attitudes and emotional support. Our findings underscore the powerful influence of both receiving and giving love for the maintenance of later life psychological well-being. We offer support for the expectation that love is a significant force in the lives of older adults that transcends intimate relationships.

Download Full-text

Association of Affect and Gait Performance in Dual-Task Walking in Non-Demented Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.920 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 287-287

Author(s):

Deepan Guharajan ◽

Roee Holtzer

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Dual Task ◽

Task Demands ◽

Gait Velocity ◽

Positive And Negative Affect ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Aging Populations ◽

Task Conditions

Abstract Aging populations are at increased risk to experience mobility disability, which is associated with falls, frailty, and mortality. Previous studies have not examined the concurrent associations of both positive and negative affect with gait velocity. We examined whether individual differences in positive and negative affect predicted dual-task performance decrements in velocity in a dual-task (DT) paradigm in non-demented older adults. We hypothesize that positive affect would be associated with lower DT costs, and negative affect would be associated with higher DT costs. Participants (N = 403; mean age, = 76.22 (6.55); females = 56%) completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and a DT paradigm that involved three task conditions: Single-Task-Walk (STW), Alpha (cognitive interference requiring participants to recite alternate letters of the alphabet), and Dual-Task-Walk (DTW) requiring participant to perform the two single tasks concurrently. Gait velocity was assessed via an instrumented walkway. As expected, results of a linear mixed effects model (LME) showed a significant decline in gait velocity (cm/s) from STW to DTW (estimate = -11.79; 95%CI = -12.82 to -10.77). LME results further revealed that negative affect was associated with greater decline in gait velocity from STW to DTW (ie., worse DT cost) (estimate = -0.38; 95%CI = -0.73 to -0.03). Positive affect did not, however, predict DT costs in gait velocity (estimate = -0.09; 95%CI = -0.23 to 0.05). These findings suggest that increased negative affect interferes with the allocation of attentional resources to competing task demands inherent in the DT paradigm.

Download Full-text

Concurrent and Lagged Relations between Emotion Regulation and Affect in Adolescents’ Daily Life

The Spanish Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1017/sjp.2018.61 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 21 ◽

Author(s):

Eliana Silva ◽

Teresa Freire ◽

Susana Faria

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Sampling Method ◽

Daily Life ◽

Cognitive Reappraisal ◽

Expressive Suppression ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Trait Level

AbstractA better understanding of emotion regulation (ER) within daily life is a growing focus of research. This study evaluated the average use of two ER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and concurrent and lagged relationships between these two ER strategies and affect (positive and negative affect) in the daily lives of adolescents. We also investigated the role of the same strategies at the trait level on these within-person relationships. Thirty-three adolescents provided 1,258 reports of their daily life by using the Experience Sampling Method for one week. Regarding the relative use of ER strategies, cognitive reappraisal (M = 2.87, SD = 1.58) was used more often than expressive suppression (M = 2.42, SD = 1.21). While the use of both strategies was positively correlated when evaluated in daily life (p = .01), the same did not occur at the trait level (p = .37). Multilevel analysis found that ER strategies were concurrently related to affect (p < .01), with the exception of cognitive reappraisal-positive affect relationship (p = .11). However, cognitive reappraisal predicted higher positive affect at the subsequent sampling moment ( β = 0.07, p = .03). The concurrent associations between cognitive reappraisal and negative affect vary as function of the use of this strategy at the trait level (β = 0.05, p = .02). Our findings highlighted the complex associations between daily ER strategies and affect of a normative sample of adolescents.

Download Full-text

Savouring as an Intervention to Decrease Negative Affect in Anxious Mothers of Children with Autism and Neurotypical Children

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11050652 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 652

Author(s):

Ariel Pereira ◽

Atiqah Azhari ◽

Chloe Hong ◽

Gerin Gaskin ◽

Jessica Borelli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Well Being ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Positive Experience ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Mother Child Relationships ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

The Individual

Savouring is an emotion regulation strategy and intervention that focuses on the process of attending, intensifying and prolonging positive experiences and positive affect associated with these memories. Personal savouring involves a reflection on positive memories that are specific to the individual and do not involve others. In contrast, relational savouring entails reflecting on instances when people were responsive to the needs of their significant others. Such interventions hold potential benefits in enhancing positive affect (PA) and reducing negative affect (NA) for both parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents of neurotypical children. Adults with greater symptoms of generalised anxiety have been found to have less PA and more NA. However, no study has investigated the effects of a mother’s anxiety symptoms on the efficacy of savouring in enhancing PA and reducing NA. Thus, this paper combined personal and relational savouring to investigate whether savouring may enhance PA and reduce NA of a pooled sample of mothers of neurotypical children and mothers of children with ASD. 52 mothers of neurotypical children and 26 mothers of children with ASD aged 3–7 years old were given a series of questionnaires and randomly assigned to either relational savouring or personal savouring conditions. In relational savouring, mothers were asked to reflect upon a shared positive experience with their child while in the personal savouring condition, a personal positive experience was recalled. Across mothers of children with ASD and neurotypical children, findings suggest that savouring leads to a decrease in NA (p < 0.01) but not increases in PA. Similarly, mothers with higher levels of anxiety experience a greater decrease in NA (p < 0.001) compared to mothers with lower levels of anxiety post-savouring. This study proposes that a brief savouring intervention may be effective among mothers of preschoolers. As lower levels of negative affect is linked to healthier psychological well-being, mothers might be able to engage in more effective and warm parenting after savouring exercises, which would cultivate positive mother-child relationships that benefit their children in the long-term.

Download Full-text

The Importance of Positive Events When Living With Chronic Pain

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.990 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 309-309

Author(s):

Julie Kircher ◽

Susan Charles ◽

Nancy Sin ◽

David Almeida

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Later Life ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Positive Events ◽

Pain Status ◽

Daily Events ◽

Multi Level

Abstract Chronic pain is a common condition in later life that is related to high levels of anxiety and depression. One reason why chronic pain is related to affective distress is that this condition may prevent people from deriving the same positive emotions from enjoyable activities. Few studies, however, have examined how exposure and reactivity to daily events differ by chronic pain status. We hypothesized that those with chronic pain will have less exposure and less positive affect reactivity to positive daily events compared to those without chronic pain. Participants from the diary substudy of MIDUS (N = 1,733; nChronicPain = 658, nNoPain = 1,075; M = 56 years-old) completed eight interview days. Chronic pain status was unrelated to the frequency of positive events. Multi-level models revealed that although people with chronic pain had lower levels of daily positive affect, they reacted more positively to daily events (γ = -.033, SE = .010, p < .0001). As a result, levels of daily positive affect on days when people experienced a positive event did not vary by pain status (MChronicPain = 2.73, MNoPain = 2.75). People with chronic pain averaged higher levels of daily negative affect compared to people without chronic pain (MChronicPain = .21, M NoPain =.20), but, on days when they experience a positive event, those with chronic pain had a greater decrease in their negative affect. Findings suggest that positive events impact those with chronic pain more than they do individuals without chronic pain.

Download Full-text

Enhancing Nature Connection and Positive Affect in Children through Mindful Engagement with Natural Environments

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094785 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4785

Author(s):

Alexia Barrable ◽

David Booth ◽

Dylan Adams ◽

Gary Beauchamp

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Positive Relationship ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Natural Environments ◽

Short Term ◽

Nature Connection ◽

Mindful Engagement

Nature connection, which describes a positive relationship between humans and the rest of nature, has been recognised as a worthwhile goal of all education. Given its association with wellbeing, as well as the fact that it can predict ecological behaviours in children, there have been several calls for it to become central to environmental education, and an important tool in tackling climate change. Previous research has reported the success of short-term interventions in increasing nature connection in children, but to date no empirical studies have looked at how mindful engagement with nature can promote both nature connection and positive affect. This study took place in a nature reserve in Wales and included n = 74 children, aged 9–10, who took part in three mindful activities. Pre- and post- measures included nature connection and positive/negative affect. Analysis showed a significant small to medium effect of the activity on nature connection. Moreover, positive affect significantly increased post-activity, while negative affect showed a small decrease.

Download Full-text

Grandparent-child cohesion, friendship quality, and left-behind children’s positive/negative affect in rural China

Journal of Health Psychology ◽

10.1177/13591053211049941 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 135910532110499

Author(s):

Jingxin Zhao ◽

Jing Ge ◽

Qianyu Li

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Rural China ◽

Friendship Quality ◽

Interaction Effects ◽

Positive And Negative Affect ◽

Left Behind ◽

Emotional Adaptation ◽

Reinforcement Model ◽

Intimate Exchange

This study examined the roles of grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality in left-behind children’s positive and negative affect compared with non-left-behind children. Data from 557 participants indicated that grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality predicted children’s emotional adaptation. Friend trust and support and intimate exchange had a stronger predictive effect on positive affect among non-left-behind children. Moreover, the interaction effects between grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality on children’s positive affect supported the reinforcement model, while the interaction effects on negative affect supported the reinforcement model among left-behind children but supported the compensation model among non-left-behind children.

Download Full-text

Judgments of truth are independently modulated by affect and repetition

10.31234/osf.io/qajkb ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Garrido-Vásquez ◽

Tanja Rock

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Affect ◽

Theoretical Perspective ◽

Processing Fluency ◽

Neutral Picture ◽

Truth Effect ◽

New Information ◽

Affective Processes ◽

Main Effect

People believe repeated statements more than new ones—the repetition-induced truth effect. It is prominently explained with processing fluency: The subjective ease of processing repeated versus new information. To date, the role of affective processes for the truth effect is rather unclear. From a theoretical perspective, people should rely more on fluency under positive than under negative affect. Here, we tested whether an affective picture presented before a statement influences the repetition-induced truth effect. Thirty-five participants took part in two sessions that were a week apart. In both sessions, they rated the truth status of statements. In session 2, repeated and new statements were intermixed, and each statement was preceded by a positive, negative, or neutral picture. We expected participants to rely more on fluency as a cue to truth in the positive than in the negative affective condition. However, although we replicated the repetition-induced truth effect, the interaction between affect and repetition was insignificant, but we observed a significant main effect of affect—statements were rated as truer after a positive rather than a negative or neutral picture. Our results suggest two independent mechanisms that enhance the subjective truth of statements: repetition and positive affect.

Download Full-text