Age differences in negative affective reactivity: do stressor types matter?

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Stress may predict poorer health through increased negative affect (NA), which is formally termed as NA reactivity. Age is an important factor associated with different emotional advantages. However, findings about age differences in NA reactivity are mixed in the literature, such that some studies show older adults exhibit more NA reactivity than younger adults, whereas others show a reverse trend or no age-related differences at all. The current study tested this inconsistency by exploring how age differences in NA reactivity vary by stressor type. Design and Methods: Participants were from the Health and Daily Experiences (HEADE) study, which included 56 younger adults (19-35) and 106 older adults (60+) who completed three lab sessions and eight consecutive days of ecological momentary assessments (EMA) surveys. Three stressor types, cognitively demanding stressors, interpersonal stressors, and general daily life stressors, were studied through repeated measures ANOVA on the collected data. Results: We found that stressor type significantly moderated age differences in NA reactivity. More specifically, older adults showed more NA reactivity while facing cognitively demanding stressors. However, the age differences were not statistically significant for interpersonal and general daily life stressors. Also, no statistically significant result was found for the moderating effect of stressor severity on the association between age differences and NA reactivity. Discussion and Conclusions: Overall, younger adults and older adults display different emotional advantages depending on different types of stressors. Thus, specific age-related health recommendations could be proposed based on different stressor types, and studying age differences in NA reactivity about other types of stressors would be a future direction.