Ethnic variation in the impact of negative affect and emotion inhibition on the health of older adults.
The relations between patterns of emotional experience, emotion inhibition, and physical health have been little studied in older adults or ethnically diverse samples. Testing hypotheses derived from work on younger adults, the authors examined the relations between negative affect and emotion inhibition and that of illness (hypertension, respiratory disease, arthritis, and sleep disorder) in a sample (N = 1,118) of community-dwelling older adults from four ethnic groups: U.S.-born African Americans, African Caribbeans, U.S.-born European Americans, and Eastern European immigrants. Participants completed measures of stress, lifestyle risk factors, health, social support, trait negative emotion, and emotion inhibition. As expected, the interaction of ethnicity with emotion inhibition, and, to a lesser extent, negative affect, was significantly related to illness, even when other known risk factors were controlled for. However, the relations among these variables were complex, and the patterns did not hold for all types of illness or operate in the same direction across ethnic groups. Implications for emotion-health relationships in ethnically diverse samples are discussed.
Consedine
Nathan S
NS
Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Human Development, Long Island University, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
Magai
Carol
C
Cohen
Carl I
CI
Gillespie
Michael
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D001168:Arthritis / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004644:Emotions; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology; D008019:Life Style / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States