Attention-Focused Emotion Regulation in Everyday Life in Adulthood and Old Age

Although some lab studies suggest older adults rely more on attentional deployment to regulate their emotions, little is known about age differences in specific attention deployment tactic use and how they relate to mood regulation in everyday life. The current longitudinal experience sampling study considered several different attention deployment tactics, such as shifting or focusing attention to positive and negative elements either internally or externally (thoughts and feelings vs. external environment). Younger, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 236) responded to surveys about their affective experience five times a day for 5 days, five times over the course of a year; they reported on types of attention deployment they used, how they felt, and the nature of their current situation. We also considered the role of COVID-19. Positive attention deployment tactics were the most popular tactic for all age groups and were positively related to affective experience. However, younger adults used positive internal attention focus less than the other age groups, whereas older adults used all negative attention deployment tactics less than the other age groups (all ps < .05). After the onset of COVID, participants felt more negative and increased attention shift tactics, although this varied by age. Although older adults generally seem to shift and focus attention less frequently toward negative aspects than other age groups, life challenges (such as COVID-19) may modulate their use of positive attention deployment tactics.