Emotion regulation in the face of loss: How detachment, positive reappraisal, and acceptance shape experiences, physiology, and perceptions in late life.

Abstract

How individuals regulate emotions in the face of loss has important consequences for well-being and health, but we know little about which emotion regulation strategies are most effective for older adults for whom loss is ubiquitous. The present laboratory-based study examined effects of three emotion regulation strategies (i.e., detachment, positive reappraisal, or acceptance in response to film clips depicting loss) on subjective emotional experiences, physiology, and perceptions of emotion regulation success and motivation in healthy older adults (N ϭ 129, age range ϭ 64 -83). Results showed that, first, detachment decreased emotional experiences across the board; positive reappraisal decreased negative and increased positive emotional experiences; while acceptance did not alter emotional experiences. Second, detachment decreased physiological arousal (driven by increases in interbeat interval and decreases in respiration rate) whereas positive reappraisal and acceptance did not alter physiological arousal compared with "just watch" trials. Third, individuals felt most successful and willing to put forth their best effort when implementing acceptance, while they felt least successful and least willing to put forth their best effort for positive reappraisal. These findings illuminate longstanding discussions regarding how individuals can best regulate emotions in the face of loss. They show that older adults can regulate their emotional experiences and (to a lesser extent) their physiology with detachment numbing emotional experiences and decreasing physiological arousal; positive reappraisal brightening emotional experiences; and acceptance resulting in the highest perceptions of success and motivation. Thus, each emotion regulation strategy appears to be most effective in specific domains for older adults.

Emotion regulation in old and very old age.

“…First, similar to past relevant studies, we implemented a complete within person design (Lohani & Isaacowitz, 2014; Rompilla et al, 2021; Shiota & Levenson, 2009). In addition, and in contrast to past studies, however, we did not counterbalance the order of our films and emotion regulation instructions.…”

“…In emotionally stressful situations, it could make an independent contribution to longer-term mental and physical health if people not only down-regulate negative emotions but also maintain or even upregulate their positive emotions. Finally, our focus has been on three very well-studied strategies of emotion regulation, however, there may be different and potentially highly effective strategies of emotion regulation that should be tested in future research, including acceptance (e.g., Rompilla et al, 2021).…”

“…To analyze emotion regulation success at the level of three physiological measures, we conducted a 2 × 3 × 3 analysis of variance (ANOVA) with age group (young old vs. very old) as between-subjects factor and regulation trial (detached reappraisal vs. behavioral suppression vs. positive reappraisal) as well as physiological measure (IBI vs. SBP vs. DBP) as within-subject factors. Following Rompilla et al (2021), physiological activity during the just watch and the three regulation trials was corrected by physiological activity during baseline periods immediately preceding each of the four trials by subtracting physiological activity during a baseline period from physiological activity during the subsequent trial (e.g., positive reappraisal IBI—baseline period IBI preceding the positive reappraisal trial). For each physiological measure (i.e., IBI, SBP, or DPB), the three regulation variables were then normalized on the age-group-specific means and standard deviations of the just watch trial (e.g., [positive reappraisal IBI – M just watch IBI]/ SD just watch IBI).…”

Executive functioning and nontarget emotions in late life.

“…Data were cleaned for artifacts by trained research assistants and corrected if necessary. As in prior work (Haase et al, 2012; Rompilla et al, 2021; Shiota & Levenson, 2009), we sampled broadly across multiple physiological channels (that is, interbeat interval [IBI], respiration rate, skin conductance [SC], respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA], root mean square of successive differences [RMSSD], preejection period [PEP], left ventricular ejection time [LVET], cardiac output, and stroke volume). All channels were z-scored and averaged across each respective baseline and film clip periods with select channels (i.e., IBI, RSA, RMSSD, LVET, PEP) recoded (i.e., multiplied by −1) so that higher values always represented greater physiological arousal (i.e., greater sympathetic or lower parasympathetic activation).…”

“…Moreover, we included physiological arousal as a covariate to control for individual differences in emotional responding. Physiological data were continuously measured using standard procedures (for details see Rompilla et al, 2021). Data were cleaned for artifacts by trained research assistants and corrected if necessary.…”