# Emotion Regulation in Adulthood and Aging: Preference and Effectiveness

> **NIH NIH R56** · NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $496,071

## Abstract

Project Summary
Prominent models of emotional aging propose that older adults prefer certain general emotion regulation
strategies and implement them using certain tactics, such as engaging more with positive content. Most work
to date on emotion regulation and aging has therefore focused on documenting and understanding age
differences. However, recent findings have found substantial similarities across age groups in both the
strategies individuals use and the specific tactics by which they implement them. We propose that individuals
of any age show a typical profile of emotion regulation tendencies—a set of general strategies and specific
tactics they use in most situations, and that these drive findings on age similarity. Meanwhile, age-related
changes may sometimes lead individuals to modify their typical tendencies, perhaps in favor of a more positive
tactic profile, as predicted by theories like socioemotional selectivity theory. Studies that find age similarities in
emotion regulation could be tapping into typical tendencies that hold across age groups, whereas studies that
find age differences may be tapping into age-related processes that serve to modify typical tendencies. To test
this, we will first conduct an experience sampling study to determine patterns in and strength of emotion
regulation tendencies of younger, middle-aged, and older adults in their everyday lives. Then, we will assess
these same participants' tendencies in a set of standardized lab tasks to determine the extent to which
tendencies in everyday life match those displayed in the lab. Next, we will mimic potential age-related changes
in the lab by having participants perform emotional regulation choice tasks while under cognitive load and in
the context of an effortful physical task. Finally, participants will complete an additional set of experience
sampling bursts to investigate stability and change in emotion regulation tendencies over a 3-4 year period. By
studying the same individuals across both everyday life and in the lab, and over several years, we will better
understand the interplay of typical emotion regulation tendencies that push toward age-similarity, and the
processes that may push older adults away from their typical tendencies and thus yield age differences.
Findings will advance our understanding of aging and emotion regulation by considering not only general
strategies but also specific tactics and tendencies, and may suggest intervention targets across the levels of
tendencies, strategies, and tactics for those individuals who are not able to regulate emotions successfully.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10228436
- **Project number:** 2R56AG048731-06
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Derek M Isaacowitz
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $496,071
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2014-09-15 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10228436

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10228436, Emotion Regulation in Adulthood and Aging: Preference and Effectiveness (2R56AG048731-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10228436. Licensed CC0.

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