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Emotional Well-Being and Longevity Essay

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Topic & Rationale Based on the previous research discussed in the introduction’s article review, the current study’s researchers were trying to examine how emotional well-being is affected by age and how emotional well-being plays a role in longevity and mortality. The researchers loosely hypothesized that well-being in older adults is contrary to many current stereotypes, that in fact many older adults have more positive emotions than negative ones. They stated that the only time there would be an increase in negative affect would be near death or those with terminal illnesses. They also hypothesized that there is a balance between positive and negative emotions resulting from experiences and longstanding adaptation to the social world. …show more content…

There were 184 participants ranging from 18-94 years of age, 54% of the sample were female and 46% were male. New participants were added as participants were lost or became aged out of sample groups. Research began in 1993 and data was collected in three “waves”, wave 1 took place from 1993-1995, wave 2 1998-2001 and wave 3 2004-2005. Subjects were first interviewed at the facility or in their homes (if mobility issues). During the initial interview, background items on information were gathered; educational level, physical health (using the Cornell Medical Index), personality (list of adjectives representative of the Big 5), and cognitive ability (verbal frequency was tested by listing animals). Subjects were then supplied with a pager to be reminded to answer an emotional response questionnaire. The subjects were to fill out the sheet five times during a day for an entire week. The emotional response questionnaire had 19 items asking questions about 19 different emotions, ranging from positive to negative, each with a seven point scale. The questions asked about overall feelings and affect and not current feelings; for example, I am an angry person (all of the time-none of the time). After each wave, the participants received a visit or went to the lab to be debriefed and paid for their participation. Results For

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