COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL MATURITY IN ADULTHOOD AND AGING

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DESCRIPTION (adapted from investigator's abstract): This sequential-longitudinal investigation extends an examination of patterns of cognitive-emotional development across the life span. Research conducted thus far during the initial project period has provided evidence for two psychological components of adult socioemotional development: reflective cognition and maturation of coping. Each is associated with somewhat different predictors/mechanisms: reflective cognition reflects the effects of education and acculturation, while maturity of coping/defense mechanisms reflects a secure relationship history. However the extent to which older individuals performance reflects age or cohort, and the extent to which they reflect flexible affect modulation versus inflexible affect inhibition, remains to be demonstrated. To examine these questions, a longitudinal sample of 330 individuals will be recontracted year 2 of the project. The resulting estimated 300 participants will be distributed over seven age groups from 15 to 93 years, with nearly equal numbers of males and females in each age group. Individuals will respond to cognitive and, socioemotional context and outcome measures. In addition, a subsample (N=150) of the original sample will be selected for an in-depth interview during which measures of physiological reactivity and facial expression of emotion will be interfaced with self-assessments (self-reports) of emotional reactivity. Finally, a new subsample of 154 African-Americans will be matched in age, gender and education to this longitudinal subsample. Analyses will examine the following issues: (a) if age gradients reported so far generalize across time; (b) if changes in reflective cognition and maturity are related to different predictor variables; (c) the degree to which study variables are related to survival; and (d) if the structural models so far established generalizes across time and cultural group; (e) age related differences in affect expression and affect repression/inhibition and (f) if affect repression/inhibition is involved in maintaining a sense of well-being and apparently good coping especially in older individuals.