Claire Growney
Social Science Research Scholar
Psychology
All Publications
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Momentary savoring in daily life in an adult life-span sample.
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
2024
Abstract
Savoring moments can foster well-being. Older adults are theorized to prioritize emotional well-being in daily life, which directs their attention to positive aspects of life. In this study, with data collected from 2018 to 2021, 285 adults aged 25-85 completed an experience sampling procedure (six times a day for 10 days) where they reported their experienced emotions, whether they were savoring the moment, and how close they felt to their most recent social partner. They also completed a trait-level questionnaire on psychological well-being. Across the age range, individuals were more likely to savor moments when they were with close social partners. Older people were more likely than younger people to report savoring when experiencing high levels of positive affect. The tendency to savor was also tied to psychological well-being among individuals independent of their age. Findings highlight the relational aspect of savoring in daily contexts and suggest that savoring may contribute to well-being, helping to account for age advantages in well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001423
View details for PubMedID 39325398
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Links Between Daily Life and Laboratory Emotion Regulation Processes: The Role of Age and Cognitive Status.
The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
2024
Abstract
This study investigates how daily use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies predicts ER processes in the laboratory among young adults and cognitively diverse older adults.Young adults (aged 21-34, n=66), cognitively normal older adults (CN; aged 70-83, n=87), and older adults with researcher-defined mild cognitive impairment (MCI; aged 70-84; n=58) completed an experience sampling procedure (7x/day for 9 days) reporting their distraction and reappraisal use in daily life. In a laboratory task inducing high-arousal negative emotion, they reported their (a) distraction and reappraisal use when instructed to reduce negative emotion and (b) ER success and perceptions when randomly assigned to regulate using distraction or reappraisal.Among CN older adults, higher frequency of using a strategy in daily life predicted greater success deploying the strategy when instructed to do so but was unrelated to spontaneous strategy use in the laboratory. In contrast, among older adults with researcher-defined MCI, greater daily life strategy use predicted greater laboratory use, but not greater success. Daily strategy use in younger adults was unrelated to strategy use and success in the laboratory. Older adults with researcher-defined MCI experienced ER as more demanding but did not differ from non-impaired individuals in terms of perceived ER effort.Cognitively normal older adults may be better able to leverage their ER experience in novel contexts than younger adults. Older adults with MCI may be motivated to manage their emotions but experience more ER difficulty, perhaps in part due to reliance on default strategies.
View details for DOI 10.1093/geronb/gbae073
View details for PubMedID 38679961
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EMOTION REGULATION SUCCESS IN A LABORATORY TASK IN YOUNG ADULTS AND COGNITIVELY DIVERSE OLDER ADULTS
OXFORD UNIV PRESS. 2023: 33
View details for Web of Science ID 001178258400106
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THINKING ABOUT TIME INFLUENCES EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE DIFFERENTLY IN OLDER AND YOUNGER ADULTS
OXFORD UNIV PRESS. 2023: 559-560
View details for Web of Science ID 001178258402520
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AGE DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION-RELATED OUTCOMES OF COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT AND MEANINGFULNESS AT WORK
OXFORD UNIV PRESS. 2023: 971
View details for Web of Science ID 001178258404545
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WORKPLACE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES, TIME SAVORING, AND HELPING BEHAVIORS IN AN AGEDIVERSE SAMPLE OF ADULTS
OXFORD UNIV PRESS. 2023: 554
View details for Web of Science ID 001178258402503
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Perceived responses, capitalization, and daily gratitude: Do age and closeness matter?
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
2023
Abstract
Successful capitalization and feelings of gratitude are both dependent upon perceived responsiveness of a social partner, but they are understudied in combination and have yet to be studied jointly in a daily context. Taking a new approach to studying capitalization, the current study examines the effect of daily capitalization on momentary gratitude and investigates the role of the capitalizer's typical perceived responses to capitalization attempts (PRCA) on daily gratitude and future capitalization attempts. Age and social closeness are studied as amplifiers, as older adults prioritize positive emotional experiences and it is more common to capitalize with closer others for whom the capitalizer's good news is salient and who are thus motivated to provide support to the capitalizer. Participants (N = 290) aged 25-85 years completed a trait-level survey followed by ecological momentary assessment surveys (six per day) for 10 days. Results demonstrate that people experienced higher daily gratitude when capitalizing, especially when interacting with a social partner rated as high in closeness. Those who had higher trait active-constructive PRCA also experienced higher daily gratitude, with this effect strengthened among older adults. Perceived responses were also associated with more attempts to capitalize in daily life. This work suggests engaging in capitalization and perceiving regular enthusiastic and supportive responses to one's capitalization attempts have daily emotional and behavioral benefits. Notably, regular enthusiastic responses to capitalization attempts may be a motivator for future attempts across adulthood, but it may be particularly likely to foster feelings of gratitude in old age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001301
View details for PubMedID 37843513