Normal aging dampens the link between intrusive thoughts and negative affect in reaction to daily stressors.

We charted daily variations in intrusive thoughts to gain access to adult age differences in affective reactivity to daily stressors. On 100 days, 101 younger and 103 older adults reported stressors, intrusive thoughts, and negative affect. Although increments in intrusive thoughts were similar in both age groups on days with stressors, older adults' negative affect increased less than younger adults' on such days. In addition, (a) levels of intrusive thoughts and negative affect across study time were positively associated; (b) days with increased thoughts were days with increased negative affect; and (c) experiencing above-average intrusive thoughts about stressors strengthened affective reactions to stress. Relative to younger adults, all three associations were reduced in older adults. We tentatively conclude that normal aging dampens the stress-induced link between intrusive thoughts and affect. This dampening may contribute to preserved affective well-being and reduced affective reactivity to daily stress in old age.

[1]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  Cognitive enrichment in old age: Web-based training programs. , 2010 .

[2]  B. Ross.  The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory , 2010 .

[3]  Christopher B. Rosnick,et al.  Fluid cognitive ability is associated with greater exposure and smaller reactions to daily stressors. , 2010, Psychology and aging.

[4]  J. Smyth,et al.  Intraindividual change and variability in daily stress processes: findings from two measurement-burst diary studies. , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[5]  Shu-Chen Li,et al.  Intraindividual variability in positive and negative affect over 45 days: do older adults fluctuate less than young adults? , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[6]  U. Lindenberger,et al.  Seeking Pleasure and Seeking Pain: Differences in Prohedonic and Contra-Hedonic Motivation From Adolescence to Old Age , 2009, Psychological science.

[7]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  On the relation of mean reaction time and intraindividual reaction time variability. , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[8]  S. Charles,et al.  Now you see it, now you don't: age differences in affective reactivity to social tensions. , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[9]  U. Staudinger,et al.  Affective experience in adulthood and old age: The role of affective arousal and perceived affect regulation. , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[10]  P. Molenaar,et al.  The Recoverability of P-technique Factor Analysis , 2009, Multivariate behavioral research.

[11]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Rethinking Rumination , 2008, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[12]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  The Consequences of Dysphoric Rumination , 2008 .

[13]  Edward R. Watkins,et al.  Ruminative Self-Focus and Negative Affect , 2008, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[14]  S. Shiffman,et al.  Ecological momentary assessment. , 2008, Annual review of clinical psychology.

[15]  J. Smyth,et al.  Reported exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors: the roles of adult age and global perceived stress. , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[16]  S. Charles,et al.  Age differences in reactivity to daily stressors: the role of personal control. , 2007, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[17]  M. Conway,et al.  The effects of age on psychopathology, well-being and repressive coping , 2007, Aging & mental health.

[18]  S. Maxwell,et al.  Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation. , 2007, Psychological methods.

[19]  F. Blanchard-Fields.  Everyday Problem Solving and Emotion , 2007 .

[20]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Emotion Regulation and Aging. , 2007 .

[21]  James J. Gross,et al.  Handbook of emotion regulation , 2007 .

[22]  C S Bergeman,et al.  Psychological resilience, positive emotions, and successful adaptation to stress in later life. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  Timothy W. Smith,et al.  Age-related differences in ambulatory blood pressure during daily stress: evidence for greater blood pressure reactivity with age. , 2006, Psychology and aging.

[24]  F. Craik,et al.  Lifespan cognition: Mechanisms of change. , 2006 .

[25]  Sonja Lyubomirsky,et al.  The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life's triumphs and defeats. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[26]  Julian F Thayer,et al.  The perseverative cognition hypothesis: a review of worry, prolonged stress-related physiological activation, and health. , 2006, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[27]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  Variability in cognitive aging : From taxonomy to theory , 2006 .

[28]  J. Nezlek,et al.  Distinguishing affective and non-affective reactions to daily events. , 2005, Journal of personality.

[29]  David M Almeida,et al.  Age differences in exposure and reactions to interpersonal tensions: a daily diary study. , 2005, Psychology and aging.

[30]  O. John,et al.  Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. , 2004, Journal of personality.

[31]  P. Molenaar.  A Manifesto on Psychology as Idiographic Science: Bringing the Person Back Into Scientific Psychology, This Time Forever , 2004 .

[32]  David M Almeida,et al.  Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. We wish to thank , 2022 .

[33]  J. Moskowitz,et al.  Coping: pitfalls and promise. , 2004, Annual review of psychology.

[34]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Dysphoric Rumination Impairs Concentration on Academic Tasks , 2003, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[35]  S. Segerstrom,et al.  A multidimensional structure for repetitive thought: what's on your mind, and how, and how much? , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[36]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the Regulation of Emotion in the Second Half of Life , 2003 .

[37]  J. Singer,et al.  Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis , 2003 .

[38]  Alex J. Zautra,et al.  Emotions, stress, and health. , 2003 .

[39]  J. Heckhausen,et al.  Perceived control of life regrets: good for young and bad for old adults. , 2002, Psychology and aging.

[40]  Elaine Wethington,et al.  The Daily Inventory of Stressful Events , 2002, Assessment.

[41]  N. Smelser,et al.  International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences , 2001 .

[42]  E. Skinner.  Coping across the Lifespan , 2001 .

[43]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[44]  U. Kunzmann,et al.  Is age-related stability of subjective well-being a paradox? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Berlin Aging Study. , 2000, Psychology and aging.

[45]  John R. Nesselroade,et al.  Putting the process in developmental processes , 2000 .

[46]  S. Armeli,et al.  A daily process approach to coping. Linking theory, research, and practice. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[47]  R. Lazarus,et al.  Toward better research on stress and coping. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[48]  B. Schmitz.  Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Individuum: vier Theoreme zur Aggregation von Prozessen , 2000 .

[49]  Walter J. Perrig,et al.  Control of human behavior, mental processes and consciousness : essays in honor of the 60th birthday of August Flammer , 2000 .

[50]  C. Carver,et al.  Stress, coping, and self-regulatory processes. , 1999 .

[51]  Jochen Brandtstädter,et al.  Intentional self-development through adulthood and later life: Tenacious pursuit and flexible adjustment of goals. , 1999 .

[52]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Well-being : the foundations of hedonic psychology , 1999 .

[53]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Emotion and aging: experience, expression, and control. , 1997, Psychology and aging.

[54]  J. McConatha,et al.  Emotional Control in Adulthood , 1997, Psychological reports.

[55]  S. Chizeck.  Stress, Coping, and Development: An Integrative Perspective , 1997 .

[56]  I. Katz,et al.  Affective states in normal and depressed older people. , 1996, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[57]  C. Brewin,et al.  Intrusive thoughts and intrusive memories in a nonclinical sample , 1996 .

[58]  N. Bolger,et al.  A framework for studying personality in the stress process. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[59]  G. Affleck,et al.  Assessing Life Events Among Older Adults , 1994, Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics.

[60]  R Kliegl,et al.  Modeling intrusions and correct recall in episodic memory: adult age differences in encoding of list context. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[61]  B. Fredrickson,et al.  Response styles and the duration of episodes of depressed mood. , 1993, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[62]  William D. McIntosh,et al.  Wanting but not having: The effects of unattained goals on thoughts and feelings. , 1993 .

[63]  James W. Pennebaker,et al.  The Handbook of Mental Control , 1992 .

[64]  M. Lawton,et al.  Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[65]  R. Kessler,et al.  Effects of daily stress on negative mood. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[66]  L. Giambra,et al.  Task-unrelated-thought frequency as a function of age: a laboratory study. , 1989, Psychology and aging.

[67]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[68]  Lynn Hasher,et al.  Working Memory, Comprehension, and Aging: A Review and a New View , 1988 .

[69]  S. Folkman,et al.  Age differences in stress and coping processes. , 1987, Psychology and aging.

[70]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology : On the dynamics between growth and decline , 1987 .

[71]  M. Lachman.  Locus of control in aging research: a case for multidimensional and domain-specific assessment. , 1986, Psychology and aging.

[72]  M. Horowitz.  Disasters and Psychological Responses to Stress , 1985 .

[73]  A. Stone,et al.  Effects of severe daily events on mood. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[74]  M. Horowitz,et al.  Impact of Event Scale: A Measure of Subjective Stress , 1979, Psychosomatic medicine.

[75]  A. Inkeles,et al.  International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. , 1968 .