Type A behavior pattern and emotion expression in younger and older adults

Comprehensive analysis of depression-related factors among middle-aged residents in Japan, an Eastern culture: A cross-sectional study

There is a need to comprehensively identify depression-related factors, including individual and socioeconomic factors, in each country or cultural area, to consider effective measures to address depression within communities. However, there are not enough studies on middle-aged residents in Japan or other Eastern countries to currently achieve this. Thus, the aim of this study was to comprehensively identify factors related to depression in middle-aged residents in Japan, an Eastern country.The study design was cross-sectional. A questionnaire survey was conducted among all community residents aged 40 to 59 in a rural municipality in Western Japan. The questionnaire contained items on demographic characteristics, psychological factors, health-related behaviors, and socioeconomic factors. A Chi-Squared test or Fisher exact test was used to analyze the relationships between depression and each assessed factor. Next, a logistic regression analysis was performed to identify comprehensive relationships between depression and its related factors.Data from 362 participants were analyzed. The average age was 51.5 years; 148 were male. A Chi-Squared test or Fisher exact test demonstrated that many psychological factors, health-related behaviors, and socioeconomic factors ware significantly related to depression. A logistic regression analysis showed that depression was significantly associated with male gender, low sense of coherence, high cognitive stress levels, low help-seeking behavior, poor quality sleep, and a lack of hobbies. Nagelkerke R2 was 51%.This study revealed through multivariate analysis that depression was primarily associated with personal behavioral and psychological factors in Japan, an Eastern country with a holistic cultural background. This result is consistent with findings from Western countries. This study can contribute the promotion and evaluation of preventive measures for depression in Eastern culture that focus on individual behavioral and psychological factors.

Extreme Metal Music and Anger Processing

The claim that listening to extreme music causes anger, and expressions of anger such as aggression and delinquency have yet to be substantiated using controlled experimental methods. In this study, 39 extreme music listeners aged 18-34 years were subjected to an anger induction, followed by random assignment to 10 min of listening to extreme music from their own playlist, or 10 min silence (control). Measures of emotion included heart rate and subjective ratings on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Results showed that ratings of PANAS hostility, irritability, and stress increased during the anger induction, and decreased after the music or silence. Heart rate increased during the anger induction and was sustained (not increased) in the music condition, and decreased in the silence condition. PANAS active and inspired ratings increased during music listening, an effect that was not seen in controls. The findings indicate that extreme music did not make angry participants angrier; rather, it appeared to match their physiological arousal and result in an increase in positive emotions. Listening to extreme music may represent a healthy way of processing anger for these listeners.

Age differences in managing response to sadness elicitors using attentional deployment, positive reappraisal and suppression

The current study investigated age differences in the use of attentional deployment, positive reappraisal and suppression while regulating responses to sadness-eliciting content. We also tested to what extent these emotion regulation strategies were useful for each age group in managing response to age-relevant sad information. Forty-two young participants (M(age) = 18.5, SE = .15) and 48 older participants (M(age) = 71.42, SE = 1.15) watched four sadness-eliciting videos (about death/illness, four to five minutes long) under four conditions--no-regulation (no regulation instructions), attentional deployment (divert attention away), positive reappraisal (focus on positive outcomes) and suppression (conceal emotional expressions). We assessed negative emotional experience, expression, skin conductance level (SCL) and visual fixation duration while participants watched the emotional clips and followed the instructions for each condition. Results suggest that older adults were more successful than younger adults at implementing both attentional deployment and positive reappraisal. Ability to suppress emotions appears to remain stable with age. Within age-group comparisons suggested that for the older adults, positive reappraisal was a more useful emotion regulation strategy than the others, while the pattern among younger adults was less conclusive. Age-relevant differences in motivation and successful emotion regulatory efforts based on theoretical and empirical literatures are discussed.

Suppression on your own terms: internally generated displays of craving suppression predict rebound effects

Research on emotion suppression has shown a rebound effect, in which expression of the targeted emotion increases following a suppression attempt. In prior investigations, participants have been explicitly instructed to suppress their responses, which has drawn the act of suppression into metaconsciousness. Yet emerging research emphasizes the importance of nonconscious approaches to emotion regulation. This study is the first in which a craving rebound effect was evaluated without simultaneously raising awareness about suppression. We aimed to link spontaneously occurring attempts to suppress cigarette craving to increased smoking motivation assessed immediately thereafter. Smokers (n = 66) received a robust cued smoking-craving manipulation while their facial responses were videotaped and coded using the Facial Action Coding System. Following smoking-cue exposure, participants completed a behavioral choice task previously found to index smoking motivation. Participants evincing suppression-related facial expressions during cue exposure subsequently valued smoking more than did those not displaying these expressions, which suggests that internally generated suppression can exert powerful rebound effects.

Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information

Studies on aging and emotion suggest an increase in reported positive affect, a processing bias of positive over negative information, as well as increasingly adaptive regulation in response to negative events with advancing age. These findings imply that older individuals evaluate information differently, resulting in lowered reactivity to, and/or faster recovery from, negative information, while maintaining more positive responding to positive information. We examined this hypothesis in an ongoing study on Midlife in the US (MIDUS II) where emotional reactivity and recovery were assessed in a large number of respondents (N = 159) from a wide age range (36-84 years). We recorded eye-blink startle magnitudes and corrugator activity during and after the presentation of positive, neutral and negative pictures. The most robust age effect was found in response to neutral stimuli, where increasing age is associated with a decreased corrugator and eyeblink startle response to neutral stimuli. These data suggest that an age-related positivity effect does not essentially alter the response to emotion-laden information, but is reflected in a more positive interpretation of affectively ambiguous information. Furthermore, older women showed reduced corrugator recovery from negative pictures relative to the younger women and men, suggesting that an age-related prioritization of well-being is not necessarily reflected in adaptive regulation of negative affect.

Poignancy: mixed emotional experience in the face of meaningful endings

The experience of mixed emotions increases with age. Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that mixed emotions are associated with shifting time horizons. Theoretically, perceived constraints on future time increase appreciation for life, which, in turn, elicits positive emotions such as happiness. Yet, the very same temporal constraints heighten awareness that these positive experiences come to an end, thus yielding mixed emotional states. In 2 studies, the authors examined the link between the awareness of anticipated endings and mixed emotional experience. In Study 1, participants repeatedly imagined being in a meaningful location. Participants in the experimental condition imagined being in the meaningful location for the final time. Only participants who imagined "last times" at meaningful locations experienced more mixed emotions. In Study 2, college seniors reported their emotions on graduation day. Mixed emotions were higher when participants were reminded of the ending that they were experiencing. Findings suggest that poignancy is an emotional experience associated with meaningful endings.