title: Factor structure, evolution, and predictive power of emotional competencies on physical and emotional health in the elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Emotional competence (EC) has been found to be an important predictor of individuals' health. While it is well known that EC predicts important outcomes in young adults, its importance is less clear in the elderly. We aimed to address this gap: Is the structure of EC the same in older as in younger adults? How do EC evolve between 50 and 80 years old? Does the predictive power of EC, regarding physical and emotional adjustment, increase or decrease with age?
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 6,688 participants filled subjective health and EC questionnaires. We gathered their medication consumption over the last 11 years, from the database of health insurance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While the structure of ECs remains stable in older adults, it generally declines as people get older, except for emotion regulation, which improves with age. Results also show that EC predicts both physical and emotional health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the development of specific interventions to improve EC may be useful for the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium carole.fantini@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fantini-Hauwel
authors.affiliation: Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Moïra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mikolajczak
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D056348:Emotional Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: developmental course in aging; emotional competencies; emotional intelligence; health behaviors; well-being