CONJUGAL LOSS IN LATER LIFE--A DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS APPROAC

拟议的试点研究建议是对研究目标22：个性和实验社会心理学的回应。这项拟议的研究有两个主要目的：检查失去配偶后情绪调节的初始过程，以及确定可能对丧亲过程中更理想的结果做出重要贡献的复原力资源。关于情绪调节过程，据推测，在正常老年人中，一个人情绪的日常变化有一个点吸引点和一个介于情绪稳定和不稳定之间的平衡点。一件有压力的生活事件，如配偶的死亡，会扰乱个人的情绪调节，使其远离平衡，导致情绪摇摆不定。然而，随着时间的推移，个体将回到平衡状态，动力学模型将产生关于最符合数据的吸引子状态的预测。参与者将包括大约90名老年人，其中包括三组寡妇，两组最近失去亲人的人(即死亡后两周)，以及一组失去亲人至少五年的对照组。所有受试者将参加面试前和面试后，并将被要求完成自我报告问卷。除了访谈和问卷调查数据外，目标丧偶组和长期丧偶控制组将被要求在90天内每天回答一系列关于他们情绪/影响的问题。最近丧偶的控制组不会参与情绪/情感的日常评估，以评估定期报告自己的感受是否会改善健康和福祉结果。在研究一个人在配偶去世后重新组织他/她的情绪的过程中，我们可以为理解个人成功地适应寡妇生活的潜在机制铺平道路。

The proposed pilot research proposal is in response to Research Objective number 22: Personality and experimental social psychology. The proposed study has two primary aims: to examine the initial process of emotional regulation after conjugal loss and to identify resilience resources that may contribute importantly to more optimal outcomes to the bereavement process. In regard to the emotion regulation process, it is speculated that in normal older adults, the day-to-day change in a person's mood has a point attractor and an equilibrium point that is between emotionally stable and unstable. A stressful life event, like the death of a spouse, will perturb the emotional regulation of the individual away from equilibrium, contributing to emotional vacillation. Over a period of time, however, the individual will move back to equilibrium and a dynamical model will produce a prediction about the attractor state that best fit the data. Participants will include approximately 90 older adults comprising three groups of widows, two groups who are recently bereaved (i.e., 2 weeks post death), and a control group who has been bereaved for at least five years. All subjects will participate in a pre- and post-interview and will be asked to complete self-report questionnaires. In addition to the interview and questionnaire data, the Target Widowed Group and the Long-term Widowed Control Group will be asked to answer a series of questions regarding their emotions/affect on a daily basis for 90 days. The Recently Widowed Control Group will not participate in the daily assessments of emotion/affect to assess whether the experience of reporting one's feelings on a regular basis enhances health and well-being outcomes. In examining the process by which an individual reorganizes his/her emotions after the death of a spouse, we can pave the way to understanding the underlying mechanisms by which individuals successfully adapt to widowhood.