New Insights Into Acceptance Across Adulthood
Claudia Haase, Lillian Fu, Chen-Wei Yu, David Rompilla, Michael Kisley

TL;DR
This paper explores how older adults use acceptance as a strategy to manage emotions, finding it beneficial for mental health and revealing age-related differences in emotional regulation.
Contribution
The study introduces new empirical insights into acceptance as an emotion regulation strategy, particularly in older adults.
Findings
Acceptance of negative emotions is preferred over other strategies and predicts better mental health in older adults.
Older adults are less likely to reject positive emotions and more likely to accept anger and sadness compared to younger adults.
Abstract
Acceptance (i.e., embracing emotions and thoughts without judging them) is an emotion regulation strategy that may become particularly important in late life. While research on other strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal) has been blossoming, we know surprisingly little about acceptance. We present findings from a research program on acceptance that combines laboratory-based and survey-based approaches. Findings from our laboratory-based research show that acceptance of negative emotions (a) is preferred over other strategies (i.e., detachment, positive reappraisal), (b) predicts greater vagal reactivity during instructed emotion regulation (for habitual acceptance), and (c) predicts greater mental health, especially when executive functioning is constrained in older adults (N = 129, age 64-83). In a new line of survey-based research, we examine age differences in acceptance,…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAging and Gerontology Research · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Emotions and Moral Behavior
