Older adults may be better able to regulate emotion responses to negative experiences than younger persons when provided instructions, but age group differences in spontaneous emotion responses are poorly understood. The current study determined age group differences in spontaneous reactivity and recovery in negative and positive affects, as well as the co-occurrence of negative and positive affects, following a laboratory mood induction. Younger (n = 71) and older adults (n = 44) rated negative and positive affects before and several times after a negative mood induction involving sad film clips. ANCOVA and multilevel longitudinal modeling in HLM were utilized to determine age group differences in spontaneous reactivity to and recovery from the mood induction, as well as age group differences in co-occurrence of negative and positive affects. Relative to younger adults, older adults reported greater negative affect reactivity to and recovery from the mood induction. Older adults also reported greater co-occurrence of negative and positive affects in response to the mood induction, as compared to younger adults. Thus, older adults reacted more strongly to sad film clips than younger persons, exhibited efficient recovery, and reported greater co-occurrence of negative and positive affects. A fruitful line of future research might determine whether affect co-occurrence facilitates effective emotion regulation.

在提供指导时，老年人可能比年轻人更能调节对负面经历的情绪反应，但人们对自发情绪反应的年龄组差异知之甚少。目前的研究确定了实验室情绪诱导后自发反应和消极和积极影响恢复的年龄组差异，以及消极和积极影响的同时发生。年轻人（n  = 71）和老年人（n = 44）在涉及悲伤电影剪辑的负面情绪诱导之前和之后多次评估负面和正面影响。使用 ANCOVA 和 HLM 中的多级纵向建模来确定对情绪诱导的自发反应和恢复的年龄组差异，以及消极和积极影响同时发生的年龄组差异。相对于年轻人，老年人报告了对情绪诱导的更大负面影响反应和恢复。与年轻人相比，老年人还报告说，与年轻人相比，情绪诱导反应中负面和正面影响的同时发生更多。因此，与年轻人相比，老年人对悲伤的电影片段的反应更强烈，表现出有效的恢复，并且报告了更多的负面和正面影响的同时发生。