Emotional well-being in advanced old age: comparative study by age and gender

In very old age, emotional states become the most important reason to maintain life satisfaction. In this study we examined the role of positive and negative emotions on the judgment of life satisfaction in advanced old age and the age and gender differences in a sample of 400 elderly people of Salamanca, aged between 75 and 104. The results show a higher frequency of positive emotions than negative, with the most frequent of the former being attentive, active and strong, and the less frequent ones being excited and inspired. Among the more frequent negative emotions are feeling jittery, nervous and alert, and the less frequent ones are feeling guilty, hostile and ashamed. In addition, there are differences in terms of both age (people aged between 75 and 84 are more active, enthusiastic and inspired) and gender (very old women are more jittery, nervous, proud, afraid, scared and upset). Moreover, multiple regression analysis showed that remaining lively, happy, interested and alert to events is essential for maintaining the life satisfaction of people aged over 75. These results confirm that positive emotions are a potential resource for psychological resilience in advanced old age.