Naslov
Age and gender differences in affect regulation strategies - representative sample of Croatia

Autori
Kaliterna Lipovčan, Ljiljana ; Prizmić-Larsen, Zvjezdana ; Franc, Renata

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
3rd European Conference on Positive Psychology. Book of Abstracts / Freire, Teresa - Braga : Vila Nova de Gaia, 2006, 61-62

Skup
3rd European Conference on Positive Psychology

Mjesto i datum
Braga, Portugal, 03.07.2006. - 06.07.2006

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
affect regulation; age; gender

Sažetak
A wide variety of affect regulation strategies are used to regulate one’ s affective states. The literature suggests that person specificity may play a significant role in determining which strategies will be used in regulating particular affective states. Among these, gender and age differences are logically of interest to researchers in the field of affect regulation. The purpose of our study was to examine the regulation strategies used for regulating negative feelings in everyday life among a sample of Croatian citizens. Furthermore, we were interested in examining gender and age differences in average use of affect regulation strategies in this sample. The study was a part of a public opinion survey (2005) and the subjects were a representative sample of Croatian citizens. There were 541 females and 466 males. Four age groups were distinguished: young adults (18-29 years), middle-age adults (30- 44 years), aged adults (45-59 years) and older adults (60-89 years). The affect regulation strategies were described by seven behavioral and cognitive strategies that people use to regulate their negative feelings in everyday life. These are based on the 7-factors assessed by the Measure of Affect Regulation Styles (MARS ; Larsen & Prizmic 2004), and are defined as Active distraction, Cognitive engagement, Behavioral engagement, Venting/ expressing, Passive distraction/ acceptance, Rumination/ withdraw and Waiting/ reframing strategies. The results of repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the affect regulation strategies yielded a main effect: Active distraction, Cognitive engagement and Behavioral engagement were used significantly more than all other groups of strategies. For analyses of gender and age differences in average use of affect regulation strategies a mixed design ANOVA was performed with gender and age groups (i.e., young, middle, aged, old age) as between subjects and affect regulations strategies as within subjects factors. Significant multivariate main effects for both variables, gender and age, were found. Females reported using more of the strategies Venting/expressing, Passive distraction/acceptance, and Rumination/withdraw than males. Use of Active distraction significantly declined by age groups, except for aged and old age groups who did not differ in average use of those strategies. On the other hand, use of Cognitive engagement and Behavioral engagement were significantly lower in old age group in comparison to all others. The opposite was found for Venting/expressing where young age group reported to use it more than all other groups. There was only one significant interaction between gender and age. Young, middle and aged females use significantly more Venting/expressing than males, while for old age females and males the use of this strategy did not differ. Different strategies were used by females and males. Females used more venting strategies than males, which could be partly explained by the social component involved in that group of regulation strategies. Also, females appeared more likely to engage in rumination strategies than males, which is in accord with findings in the depression and rumination literature. Results also showed significant decline in the use of particular strategies by age. Findings are discussed within the field of affect regulation research.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA