IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v66y2008i12p2391-2400.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Age and the balance of emotions

Author

Listed:
  • Ross, Catherine E.
  • Mirowsky, John

Abstract

With age, the quality of emotions may shift from negative in tone to positive, but also from active to passive. The shift from negative to positive is consistent with the age as maturity perspective. The shift from active to passive supports the age as decline perspective. If these generalities are correct, then they should apply to positive emotions as well as negative emotions. We should see a shift in positive emotions from active (excitement) to passive (serenity), as well as in the negative emotions (from the agitation of anxiety and anger to the lethargy of depression). In order to accurately portray the shifts in emotional tone, age may best be considered as simultaneously indicating maturity and decline. This paper examines results from the emotions module of the 1996 U.S. General Social Survey and finds support for the idea that age is associated with a shift from negative to positive and from active to passive emotions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross, Catherine E. & Mirowsky, John, 2008. "Age and the balance of emotions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(12), pages 2391-2400, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:12:p:2391-2400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00079-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Pinquart, 2001. "Age Differences in Perceived Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Affect Balance in Middle and Old Age," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 375-405, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dimitra Vasileiou & Despina Moraitou & Vasileios Papaliagkas & Christos Pezirkianidis & Anastasios Stalikas & Georgia Papantoniou & Maria Sofologi, 2021. "The Relationships between Character Strengths and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Greece under Lockdown during COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-28, October.
    2. Maciej Pastwa & Kamil K. Imbir & Adrianna Wielgopolan & Ernest Adach, 2023. "Predictors of Feeling of Threat Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic, the Distinctive Effects of Automatic vs. Reflective Emotions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Alex Coad, 2018. "Firm age: a survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 13-43, January.
    4. Massimo Baù & Philipp Sieger & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Francesco Chirico, 2017. "Fail but Try Again? The Effects of Age, Gender, and Multiple–Owner Experience on Failed Entrepreneurs’ Reentry," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(6), pages 909-941, November.
    5. Pudrovska, Tetyana, 2010. "Cancer and mastery: Do age and cohort matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(7), pages 1285-1291, October.
    6. Octave Jokung & Serge Macé, 2013. "Long-term health investment when people underestimate their adaptation to old age-related health problems," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(6), pages 1003-1013, December.
    7. Thomas Schofield & Melissa Merrick & Chia-Feng Chen, 2016. "Reciprocal Associations between Neighborhood Context and Parent Investments: Selection Effects in Two Longitudinal Samples," Working Papers wp16-08-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    8. Samantha Dockray & Nina Grant & Arthur Stone & Daniel Kahneman & Jane Wardle & Andrew Steptoe, 2010. "A Comparison of Affect Ratings Obtained with Ecological Momentary Assessment and the Day Reconstruction Method," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 269-283, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Søren Harnow Klausen, 2020. "Understanding Older Adults’ Wellbeing from a Philosophical Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(7), pages 2629-2648, October.
    2. Sebastiano Costa & Antonino Bianco & Valentina Polizzi & Marianna Alesi, 2021. "Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination of Children Motivation and Negative Affect in Physical Activity," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1643-1655, April.
    3. Thomas Hansen & Morten Blekesaune, 2022. "The age and well-being “paradox”: a longitudinal and multidimensional reconsideration," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1277-1286, December.
    4. Yew-Kwang Ng, 2008. "Environmentally Responsible Happy Nation Index: Towards an Internationally Acceptable National Success Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 85(3), pages 425-446, February.
    5. Anna Darbonne & Bert Uchino & Anthony Ong, 2013. "What Mediates Links Between Age and Well-being? A Test of Social Support and Interpersonal Conflict as Potential Interpersonal Pathways," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 951-963, June.
    6. Brendan Baird & Richard Lucas & M. Donnellan, 2010. "Life Satisfaction Across the Lifespan: Findings from Two Nationally Representative Panel Studies," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 183-203, November.
    7. Berezan, Orie & Krishen, Anjala S. & Agarwal, Shaurya & Kachroo, Pushkin, 2018. "The pursuit of virtual happiness: Exploring the social media experience across generations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 455-461.
    8. Débora Godoy-Izquierdo & Raquel Lara Moreno & María Vázquez Pérez & Francisco Araque Serrano & Juan Godoy García, 2013. "Correlates of Happiness Among Older Spanish Institutionalised and Non-Institutionalised Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 389-414, April.
    9. Peterson, Lindsey & Ralston, Margaret, 2019. "Aging well in an aging world: The impact of material conditions, culture, and societal disruptions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 245-253.
    10. Cara A. Palmer & Amy L. Gentzler, 2019. "Age-Related Differences in Savoring Across Adulthood: The Role of Emotional Goals and Future Time Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1281-1304, April.
    11. Calvo, Esteban & Haverstick, Kelly & Sass, Steven, 2007. "A Gradual Exit may Not Make for a Happier Retirement?," MPRA Paper 5605, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Pyke, Joanne & Pyke, Sarah & Watuwa, Richard, 2019. "Social tourism and well-being in a first nation community," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 38-48.
    13. Jyotsna Agrawal & Pratima Murthy & Mariamma Philip & Seema Mehrotra & K. Thennarasu & John John & N. Girish & V. Thippeswamy & Mohan Isaac, 2011. "Socio-demographic Correlates of Subjective Well-being in Urban India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 419-434, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:12:p:2391-2400. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.