Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.

<h4>Aims</h4>This study examined age-related differences between young and older adults' emotion regulation, hope, and optimism 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Whether personality explained such outcomes was also examined.<h4>Method</h4>A sample of 228 young adults a...

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Main Authors: Elena Carbone, Graziana Lenti, Enrico Sella, Angelica Moè, Erika Borella
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296205&type=printable
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author Elena Carbone
Graziana Lenti
Enrico Sella
Angelica Moè
Erika Borella
author_facet Elena Carbone
Graziana Lenti
Enrico Sella
Angelica Moè
Erika Borella
author_sort Elena Carbone
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Aims</h4>This study examined age-related differences between young and older adults' emotion regulation, hope, and optimism 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Whether personality explained such outcomes was also examined.<h4>Method</h4>A sample of 228 young adults and 161 older adults was interviewed in April-May 2021 to complete questionnaires assessing cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) emotion regulation strategies use, optimism, hope (agency and pathways components), and personality traits.<h4>Results</h4>Older adults reported greater CR and ES use, optimism, and hope-agency levels than young adults, whereas no age differences emerged for hope-pathway scores. Personality traits (more consistently emotional stability) contributed to explaining CR and ES use, and greater hopeful and optimistic dispositions.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings confirm older adults' advantage in facing the emotional and psychological fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in its third wave. They also underscore the importance of considering personality to depict individual profiles prone to experiencing long-term negative emotional/psychological consequences of emergencies as COVID-19.
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spelling doaj-art-ccbf28e089c74b1bb9267d1217c3b9d12025-08-20T01:50:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01191e029620510.1371/journal.pone.0296205Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.Elena CarboneGraziana LentiEnrico SellaAngelica MoèErika Borella<h4>Aims</h4>This study examined age-related differences between young and older adults' emotion regulation, hope, and optimism 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Whether personality explained such outcomes was also examined.<h4>Method</h4>A sample of 228 young adults and 161 older adults was interviewed in April-May 2021 to complete questionnaires assessing cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) emotion regulation strategies use, optimism, hope (agency and pathways components), and personality traits.<h4>Results</h4>Older adults reported greater CR and ES use, optimism, and hope-agency levels than young adults, whereas no age differences emerged for hope-pathway scores. Personality traits (more consistently emotional stability) contributed to explaining CR and ES use, and greater hopeful and optimistic dispositions.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings confirm older adults' advantage in facing the emotional and psychological fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in its third wave. They also underscore the importance of considering personality to depict individual profiles prone to experiencing long-term negative emotional/psychological consequences of emergencies as COVID-19.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296205&type=printable
spellingShingle Elena Carbone
Graziana Lenti
Enrico Sella
Angelica Moè
Erika Borella
Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
PLoS ONE
title Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
title_full Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
title_fullStr Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
title_full_unstemmed Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
title_short Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.
title_sort emotion regulation hope and optimism during the third wave of the covid 19 pandemic the role of age and personality
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296205&type=printable
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