This study was designed to measure differences between elderly and young adults in terms of their expression of positive and negative emotion. It was hypothesized that that there would be a difference between young and aged subjects in intensity of positive and negative emotional experience as measured by response to cartoons and the Survey of the Quality of Life of Adult Men and Women (SQLAMW, Malatesta & Kalnok, 1984). Sex differences as well as the effect of the sequence of cartoons were also tested.Emotions have been widely studied, yet researchers have rarely focused on the elderly population and those studies that do exist have methodological problems. Early research suggests a drift towards negative emotion with age, whereas more recent studies challenge this position.Volunteer subjects were 61 noninstitutionalized adults (24 males, 37 females) age 60 and over and 93 college undergraduates (36 males, 57 females) age 18-25. They met in groups of 2 to 10 to complete the research instruments.Positive and negative emotional reactions were obtained from ten point Likert scale ratings of 38 cartoons for funniness, pain, and hostility. Cartoons were presented in two sequences. Additional measurements of emotion were obtained from the SQLAMW.Four mean scores were calculated for each subject and served as dependent variables. Positive and negative affect on the SQLAMW generated two mean scores. A mean score for positive emotion on cartoons was calculated from ratings of funniness and for negative affect by combining ratings of pain and hostility. A 2 X 2 X 2 (Age x Sex x Cartoon Sequence) multivariate analysis of variance was conducted.Analysis for negative emotion resulted in a significant main effect for age on the SQLAMW and an age by sex interaction on cartoons. The young reported higher levels of negative emotion on the SQLAMW. However, cartoon ratings showed aged males higher than young males on negative emotion. For positive emotion, males scored higher than females on cartoons. All other effects were nonsignificant.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/174958 |
| Date | January 1986 |
| Creators | Barrick, Ann Louise J. |
| Contributors | Hutchinson, Roger L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | iii, 72 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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