Increasing age is characterized by greater positive affective states. However, there is mixed evidence on the implementation of emotion regulation strategies across the life span. To clarify the discrepancies in the literature, we examined the modulating influence of contextual factors in understanding emotion regulation strategy use in older and young adults. Forty-eight older adults and forty-nine young adults completed a retrospective survey inquiring about the use of emotion regulation strategies in emotion-eliciting situations experienced over the preceding 2 weeks. We used factor analysis to establish clusters of emotion regulation strategies, resulting in cognitive strategies, acceptance, and maladaptive strategies. Overall, we found context-dependent age-related differences in emotion regulation strategy use. Specifically, older adults reported greater use of acceptance than young adults in situations of moderate intensity and in situations that evoke anxiety and sadness. In addition, older adults reported using maladaptive strategies to a lesser extent in high- and moderate-intensity situations and in situations that elicit anxiety and sadness when compared with young adults. There were no age-related differences in the use of cognitive strategies across contexts. Older adults, compared to young adults, reported less use of maladaptive strategies and greater use of acceptance than young adults, which suggests that the enhanced emotional functioning observed later in life may be due to a shift in strategy implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Dispositional mindfulness is associated with lower levels of perceived stress, with increased emotional regulation and cognitive control proposed as mechanisms underlying these stress-buffering effects of mindfulness. Within aging, these controlled processes represent paradoxically divergent trajectories such that older adults exhibit reduced cognitive control capacities, while emotional regulation abilities are well maintained, and at times enhanced. Our study seeks to examine the role of emotional regulation and cognitive control as possible mediators of the association between mindfulness and perceived stress. In addition, we examined age-related differences in the observed associations among mindfulness, stress, and controlled regulatory behavior. Fifty older adults and fifty young adults were recruited for the study and completed self-report measures assessing mindfulness disposition, perceived stress, and emotional regulation. In addition, computerized measures of cognitive control assessing working memory, inhibitory control, and set-shifting were also administered. We hypothesized a negative correlation between mindfulness disposition and perceived stress such that participants reporting higher levels of dispositional mindfulness would report lower stress. In addition, we hypothesized increased difficulties in emotion regulation and lower cognitive control to mediate this relationship. Corroborating previous literature, results revealed that mindfulness disposition and perceived stress were negatively correlated in both groups. However, emotion regulation, but not cognitive control, was found to mediate the relationship between mindfulness and perceived stress in both groups. Age group was not found to moderate the observed effects. Our findings reveal the role of enhanced emotional regulation abilities as a potential factor associated with the stress-reducing capacity of dispositional mindfulness.

Background Cognitive reappraisal is a form of emotion regulation that alters emotional responding by changing the meaning of emotional stimuli. Reappraisal engages regions of the prefrontal cortex that support multiple functions, including visceral control functions implicated in regulating the immune system. Immune activity plays a role in the preclinical pathophysiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), an inflammatory condition that is highly comorbid with affective disorders characterized by problems with emotion regulation. Here, we tested whether prefrontal engagement by reappraisal would be associated with atherosclerotic CVD risk and whether this association would be mediated by inflammatory activity. Methods Community volunteers (n=157; aged 30–54; 80 women) without DSM-IV Axis-1 psychiatric diagnoses or cardiovascular or immune disorders performed a functional neuroimaging task involving the reappraisal of negative emotional stimuli. Carotid artery intima-media thickness and inter-adventitial diameter were measured by ultrasonography and used as markers of preclinical atherosclerosis. Also measured were circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine linked to CVD risk and prefrontal neural activity. Results Greater reappraisal-related engagement of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) was associated with greater preclinical atherosclerosis and IL-6. Moreover, IL-6 mediated the association of dACC engagement with preclinical atherosclerosis. These results were independent of age, sex, race, smoking status, and other known CVD risk factors. Conclusions The cognitive regulation of emotion may relate to CVD risk through a pathway involving the functional interplay between the anterior cingulate region of the prefrontal cortex and inflammatory activity.

Trait mindfulness is positively associated with QoL in individuals with MS. Reduced emotion dysregulation may be a critical pathway linking mindfulness and QoL in MS, especially in those with higher symptoms of depression.

The current cross-sectional study suggests that reduced avoidance of thoughts may partially explain the relationship between trait mindfulness and enhanced emotion regulation, with this mediational pathway being stronger for young compared with older adults.