Abstract
A growing numbers of intensive longitudinal studies examine the short-term variability of behavior in response to daily stressors. Collectively, these studies address the vulnerability for stress-related emotional burden as assessed in terms of the intraindividual association between daily stressors and negative affect (NA). This article provides a brief overview of the relevant research on so-called affective reactivity to daily stressors and focuses on findings on development of age-related stressor reactivity across the adult lifespan. Two theoretical propositions have been put forward. Firstly, it has been postulated that aging should be associated with increased affective reactivity, i.e. it has been assumed that the vulnerability in terms of physiological stress reactivity increases across the adult life span and, thus, a higher stress-induced emotional reactivity should result with increasing age. Secondly, it has been argued that due to the continued development of emotional self-regulation skills, there should be an age-related decrease in stress reactivity and, hence, an increased resilience. Findings on age differences in NA reactivity to daily stressors, however, have been inconsistent. A possible explanation for the inconsistent findings may lie in the fact that the postulated dynamics of increased vulnerability or resilience imply different time-related reactions to stressors. In particular, the activation and effectiveness of emotional self-regulation strategies increase with increasing time intervals from the stressors. This leads to the conclusion that with increasing age the resilience for longer periods of stress and accumulated stress should increase. Results from our own research support this hypothesis, where older adults reacted to multiple stressors in a more adaptive way than younger adults.
Zusammenfassung
Eine wachsende Zahl intensiver Längsschnittstudien zur kurzfristigen Variabilität des alltäglichen Stresserlebens thematisiert die Vulnerabilität für stressinduzierte emotionale Belastungen, die sich in der intraindividuellen Assoziation zwischen Maßen des Stresses und des negativen Affekts (NA) manifestiert. Der Beitrag gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die Forschung zu dieser sog. affektiven Reaktivität auf alltäglichen Stress und behandelt insbesondere Befunde zur Entwicklung der affektiven Stressreaktivität über die Lebensspanne. Postuliert wurden sowohl eine mögliche Zunahme affektiver Reaktivität über die Lebenspanne hinweg – nämlich eine erhöhte Vulnerabilität gegenüber physiologischen Stressreaktionen und dadurch auch stressinduzierten emotionalen Belastungen im hohen Alter – als auch das Gegenteil– eine mit dem Alter abnehmende Stressreaktivität und damit wachsende Resilienz infolge lebenslang fortgeschrittener Entwicklung emotionaler Selbstregulationskompetenzen. Die empirischen Befunde zur Altersunterschieden in der Reaktivität des NA auf alltägliche Stressoren sind inkonsistent. Eine mögliche Erklärung dafür besteht darin, dass die postulierten Dynamiken – erhöhte Vulnerabilität vs. Resilienz – jeweils unterschiedliche zeitliche Erstreckung der Stressreaktionen implizieren: Insbesondere emotionale Selbstregulationsstrategien werden mit zunehmendem zeitlichen Abstand zum Stressor wirksam. Daraus wäre zu folgern, dass mit zunehmendem Lebensalter insbesondere die Resilienz in verlängerten Stressphasen bei mehrtägigen Akkumulationen von Stressoren zunimmt. Befunde eigener Studien belegen diesen Alterseffekt: Ältere können auf multiplen Stress, wie er im Alltag sehr häufig auftritt, gelassener reagieren.
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O.K. Schilling and M. Diehl state that there are no conflicts of interest.
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Schilling, O., Diehl, M. Psychological vulnerability to daily stressors in old age. Z Gerontol Geriat 48, 517–523 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-015-0935-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-015-0935-7