Adult Romantic Couples' Use of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in Everyday Contexts

Older adults often report better well-being than young adults, despite physical and cognitive declines that accompany aging. This paradox may be explained by older adults’ better emotion regulation abilities and social support. Together, Selection, Optimization, and Compensation with Emotion Regulation Theory and Interdependence Theory offer a potential mechanism for how older adults are able to maintain emotion regulation success and suggest older adults might be more likely to shift their emotion regulation strategies to rely on and help manage the emotions of a romantic partner by using interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. However, extant emotion regulation research has mainly focused on individual regulation strategies even though the majority of situations requiring regulation involve a close social partner. The main goal of the present study was to understand what personal and social characteristics influence the use of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) in general and throughout an interaction. Data were collected using an online survey and an in-person, videotaped session. Emotion regulation preferences, frequency of emotion regulation use, relationship quality, and interpersonal skills were assessed. Researchers coded and participants self-identified their IER strategy use by viewing their videotaped interaction with their partner. Young adults, compared to middle-aged and older adults, preferred all emotion regulation strategies and those with better interpersonal skills and longer relationship durations, on average, used interpersonal strategies more frequently on a weekly basis. Participants expressed negative affect and withdrawal, and females expressed conflict as cues for intrinsic IER. Participants expressed positive affect, problem solving, support/validation, effective communication, and physical touch of the female partner as extrinsic IER. Couples interdependently helped each other regulate their emotions; specifically, older couples were more likely to provide extrinsic IER to their partner during an interaction, compared to younger couples, and actors were more likely to use extrinsic IER if they had better interpersonal skills, their partner used intrinsic IER and had better executive functioning, and they had been together longer. In line with SOC-ER and Interdependence Theory, older adults may be more selective about their emotion regulation strategy choices and also more likely to provide support to their partner during a regulation episode.