The current study examined whether stress reactivity becomes stronger or weaker with age. Daily stress and daily negative affect were modeled using 1,012 subjects from the National Study of Daily Events (NSDE), an 8-day daily diary study. Age ranged from 25 to 74. Data were modeled using within-person HLM techniques. Daily stress and neuroticism interacted in their effect on daily negative affect. There was a stronger association between daily stress and negative affect for persons high in neuroticism as compared to those low on the trait. In addition, daily stress and age interacted in their effect on daily negative affect. There was a stronger association between daily stress and negative affect for older as compared to younger adults. Results suggest heightened reactivity to stressors in older adulthood, perhaps due to kindling effects. Changes in the aging brain may explain this effect. Our investigations illuminate the complexities that characterize the set of associations among negative affect, stress, personality, and age, and point to potential aging or cohort effects. 相似文献
Personality traits predict substance use in adolescence, but less is known about prospective substance use in middle age and beyond. Moreover, there is growing interest in how personality change and the multiplicative effects among personality traits relate to substance use. Participants included approximately 4000 adults aged 25-74 who participated in two waves of the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study. Higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted longitudinal substance use. Increases in neuroticism and openness predicted increased substance use while increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted decreased substance use. Higher levels of conscientiousness moderated two of the other trait main effects. Personality, trait change, and interactions among traits reliably forecasted 10-year substance-use behaviors. 相似文献
Objectives: The present study examined age differences among older adults in the daily co-occurrence of affect and its potential role in buffering the negative effects of health stressors.
Design: Participants were from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study and included 249 young-old adults (age = 60–79 years, M = 71.6) and 64 old-old adults (age = 80–89, M = 82.9) who completed questionnaires assessing stressors, physical health symptoms, and positive and negative affect for eight consecutive days.
Results: An independent samples t-test showed young-old and old-old adults did not significantly differ in their mean levels of daily co-occurrence of affect. The between-person relationships among stressors, health and daily co-occurrence of affect revealed that neither stressors nor health were significantly related to daily co-occurrence of affect. However, results from a multilevel model revealed a three-way cross-level interaction (health stressor × age group × co-occurrence of affect) where old-old adults with higher levels of co-occurrence of affect were less emotionally reactive to health stressors than young-old adults.
Conclusion: These findings provide support for the assertion that co-occurrence of affect functions in an adaptive capacity and highlight the importance of examining domain-specific stressors. 相似文献
Big Five and affective traits were measured at three assessments when participants were on average 18, 21, and 24 years old. Rank-order stability analyses revealed that stability correlations tended to be higher across the second compared to the first retest interval; however, affective traits consistently were less stable than the Big Five. Median stability coefficients for the Big Five increased from .62 (Time 1 vs. Time 2) to .70 (Time 2 to Time 3); parallel increases also were observed for measures of negative affectivity (median rs=.49 and .55, respectively) and positive affectivity (median rs=.48 and .57, respectively). Growth curve analyses revealed significant change on each of the Big Five and affective traits, although many of the scales also showed significant variability in individual trajectories. Thus, rank-order stability is increasing for a range of personality traits, although there also is significant variability in change trajectories during young adulthood. 相似文献
A growing body of literature supports a link between positive emotions and health in older adults. In this article, we review evidence of the effects of positive emotions on downstream biological processes and meaningful clinical endpoints, such as adult morbidity and mortality. We then present relevant predictions from lifespan theories that suggest changes in cognition and motivation may play an important role in explaining how positive emotions are well maintained in old age, despite pervasive declines in cognitive processes. We conclude by discussing how the application of psychological theory can inform greater understanding of the adaptive significance of positive emotions in adulthood and later life. 相似文献
Previous studies have indicated that high neuroticism is associated with early mortality. However, recent work suggests that people's level of neuroticism changes over long periods of time. We hypothesized that such changes in trait neuroticism affect mortality risk. Growth-curve parameters (levels and slopes) that quantified the trajectories of neuroticism change over 12 years were used to predict 18-year risk of mortality among 1,663 aging men. Proportional hazards models were used to estimate mortality risk from level and slope parameters, controlling for objective and subjective health, depression, and age. Although a parallel analysis of extraversion showed no significant effects, level and slope of neuroticism interacted in their effect on mortality. Men who had both a high average level of neuroticism and an increasing level of neuroticism over time had much lower survival than men without that combination. These findings suggest that it is not just the level of personality traits, but their direction of change, that is related to mortality. 相似文献
We examined change in both positive and negative affect over ages 45 to 97 among 1534 men (mean age = 69 years). Positive affect demonstrated a linear decline with age, while negative affect declined until approximately 70 years, and thereafter showed a gradual increase. Results indicated significant individual differences in rates of change for both positive and negative affect. We then examined whether personality, health, and work status might account for individual differences in levels and rates of change in affect. Higher extraversion was associated with higher levels of positive affect, but not with rate of change. Higher neuroticism predicted higher levels of negative affect, as well as an attenuated decline in middle-adulthood, and a steeper increase in later adulthood. Better health was associated with higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative, but was also found to predict less decline in negative affect. Work predicted lower levels of positive affect and higher levels of negative affect, as well as greater declines in positive affect. These findings indicate that individuals differ in the manner in which they change in affect over time. 相似文献