Objectives: This study examined whether dispositional optimism would be associated with reduced levels of cortisol secretion among individuals who perceive stress levels that are either higher than ...their normal average (i.e., within-person associations) or higher than the stress levels of other individuals (i.e., between-person associations). Methods: Stress perceptions and four indicators of diurnal cortisol (area-under-the-curve, awakening, afternoon/evening, and cortisol awakening response CAR levels) were assessed on 12 different days over 6 years in a sample of 135 community-dwelling older adults. Results: Hierarchical linear models showed that although pessimists secreted relatively elevated area-under-the-curve, awakening, and afternoon/evening levels of cortisol (but not CAR) on days they perceived stress levels that were higher than their normal average, optimists were protected from these stress-related elevations in cortisol. However, when absolute stress levels were compared across participants, there was only a significant effect for predicting CAR (but not the other cortisol measures), indicating that optimism was associated particularly strongly with a reduced CAR among participants who experienced high levels of stress. Conclusions: Dispositional optimism can buffer the association between stress perceptions and elevated levels of diurnal cortisol when individuals perceive higher-than-normal levels of stress, and it may predict a reduced CAR among individuals who generally perceive high stress levels. Research should examine relative, in addition to absolute, levels of stress to identify the personality factors that help individuals adjust to psychological perceptions of stress.
A special section of the International Journal of Behavioral Development (IJBD) devoted to the topic ‘Motivational Self-Regulation Across the Lifespan.’
This study examined age-related associations between goal disengagement capacities, emotional distress, and disease severity across older adulthood. Given that an age-related increase in the ...experience of stressors might render important goals unattainable, it is expected that goal disengagement capacities would predict a decrease in the severity of experienced illness (i.e., the common cold) by preventing emotional distress (i.e., depressive symptoms), particularly so among individuals in advanced (as compared to early) old age. This hypothesis was tested in a 6-year longitudinal study of 131 older adults (age range = 64 to 90). Regression analyses showed that goal disengagement capacities buffered 6-year increases in older adults' cold symptoms, and that this effect was significantly pronounced among older-old participants. Mediation analyses further indicated that changes in depressive symptoms exerted an indirect effect on the age-related association between goal disengagement and changes in cold symptoms. The study's findings suggest that goal disengagement capacities become increasingly important for protecting emotional well-being and physical health as older adults advance in age.
We discuss the major processes involved in individuals' motivation and self-regulation of goal striving throughout the life course. While much is regulated based on the biological and societal ...scaffolding of lifespan development, certain challenges for motivation and self-regulation are more substantial and need to be managed by the individual, providing opportunities for researchers for testing the limits of individual capacities in developmental regulation. These challenging circumstances include major changes in age-graded opportunities for goal pursuit, uncertain or obfuscated opportunities, and major unexpected losses of control. Under such challenging circumstances, the consequences of individual differences in motivational self-regulation, such as optimism, action vs. state orientation, and goal-disengagement capacity are enhanced and may contribute to adaptive patterns of developmental regulation.
•This study assessed stress experiences and diurnal cortisol levels over seven waves across twelve years in community dwelling older adults.•High levels of chronic stress experiences predicted ...steeper declines in daily cortisol levels (AUC) over the course of the study•Higher stress experience was associated with generally flatter cortisol slopes.•High and increasing stress levels predicted increasingly flatter diurnal cortisol slopes over time.
Although evidence shows that stress experiences can predict both hyper- and hypo-cortisol regulation, there is a lack of research examining these associations longitudinally. Our study assessed whether levels and increases in psychological stress experiences predicted 12-year changes in circadian cortisol levels (area under the curve; AUC) and cortisol slopes in a sample of community-dwelling older adults.
In 2004, 190 community dwelling older adults (57 to 94 years) started providing three days of diurnal cortisol and stress experience data every two years for a total of seven waves of data. All analyses controlled for relevant covariates including: SES, BMI, age, sex, cortisol-related medication, chronic illness, and smoking status.
Growth-curve modeling documented that compared to participants who reported generally lower stress experiences (T-ratio = -5.57, p < .01), their counterparts with higher stress experiences showed significantly steeper declines in cortisol AUC over time (T-ratio = -9.23, p < .01). Higher stress experience was associated with generally flatter cortisol slopes. In addition, among participants with high and increasing stress experience over 12 years, cortisol slopes became increasingly flatter over time (T-ratio = 2.78, p < .01).
Among individuals with high, as compared to low, levels of chronic stress experience, cortisol levels displayed steeper declines across the study period. Moreover, cortisol slopes became increasingly flatter as a function of high and increasing stress experience. Implications for theory and research on the associations between stress experience and cortisol in the context of longitudinal observations are discussed.
Depressive Symptoms Can Be Useful Wrosch, Carsten; Miller, Gregory E
Journal of personality and social psychology,
06/2009, Volume:
96, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Propositions derived from evolutionary biology and personality psychology suggest that depressive symptoms may serve adaptive functions by enabling people to adjust to unattainable goals, which in ...turn promotes quality of life. The authors tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal study of adolescent girls involving 4 waves of data collected over approximately 19 months. The authors expected that high baseline levels of depressive symptoms would facilitate the development of adolescents' goal adjustment capacities (i.e., goal disengagement capacities and goal reengagement capacities). In addition, the authors expected that improvements in goal adjustment capacities over time would presage lower levels of subsequent depressive symptoms. Data from the first 3 waves produced results demonstrating that baseline levels of depressive symptoms predicted an increase in goal disengagement capacities over time but not in goal reengagement capacities. Moreover, increases in goal disengagement capacities predicted a reduction in subsequent depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that depressive symptomatology may serve adaptive functions by facilitating the development of goal disengagement capacities in adolescence.
This study examined the associations between goal adjustment capacities, coping, and indicators of subjective well-being in 2 waves of data from individuals who provide care for a family member with ...mental illness. We hypothesized that goal adjustment capacities would predict higher levels of subjective well-being by facilitating coping with caregiving stress. Results showed that goal disengagement was associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., less self-blame and substance use). Goal reengagement was also associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., positive reframing), but at the same time it predicted the use of less effective strategies (e.g., venting and self-distraction). Moreover, goal disengagement predicted lower levels of caregiver burden and depressive symptoms and buffered the longitudinal effect of caregiver burden on increases in depressive symptoms. Goal reengagement, by contrast, predicted higher levels of caregiver burden and purpose in life and buffered the cross-sectional association between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms. Finally, effective (and less useful) care-specific coping statistically explained the adaptive (and maladaptive) effects of goal adjustment capacities on participants' well-being.
Objectives: This longitudinal study examined the associations between older adults' goal adjustment capacities (i.e., goal disengagement and goal reengagement capacities), functional disability, and ...depressive symptoms. It was expected that goal disengagement capacities would prevent an adverse effect of heightened functional disability on increases in depressive symptoms. Method: Multivariate regression analyses were conducted, using four waves of data from a six-year longitudinal study of 135 community-dwelling older adults (>60 years old). Results: Depressive symptoms and functionality disability increased over time. Moreover, poor goal disengagement capacities and high levels of functional disability forecasted six-year increases in depressive symptoms. Finally, goal disengagement buffered the association of functional disability with increases in depressive symptoms. No associations were found for goal reengagement capacities. Conclusion: The findings suggest an adaptive role for goal disengagement capacities in older adulthood. When confronted with increases in functional disability, the capacity to withdraw effort and commitment from unattainable goals can help protect older adults from experiencing long-term increases in depressive symptoms.
Many older adults experience chronic age-related stressors (e.g., life regrets or health problems) that are difficult to control and can disturb cortisol regulation. Self-compassion may buffer ...adverse effects of these stressful experiences on diurnal cortisol secretion in older adulthood. To examine whether self-compassion could benefit older adults’ cortisol secretion in the context of chronic and largely uncontrollable age-related stressors, 233 community-dwelling older adults reported their levels of self-compassion, age-related stressors (regret intensity, physical health problems, and functional disability), and relevant covariates. Diurnal cortisol was measured over 3 days and the average area-under-the-curve and slope were calculated. Higher levels of self-compassion were associated with lower daily cortisol levels among older adults who reported higher levels of regret intensity, physical health problems, or functional disability (
βs
< − .53,
p
s < .01), but not among their counterparts who reported lower levels of these age-related stressors (
β
s < .24,
p
s > .28). These results suggest that self-compassion may represent an important personal resource that could protect older adults from stress-related biological disturbances resulting from chronic and uncontrollable stressors.
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