ABSTRACT

Does advanced age give employees an advantage in face of negative work experiences through their higher emotion-regulation competence? Across days, the occurrence of negative work events is associated with fluctuations in attention, motivation, and well-being. This study examined whether these within-person associations are reduced at advanced employee age, indicating higher resilience. The study further investigated the role of emotion-regulation goal activation and strategy use in these associations. Across two work weeks, 123 employees aged 22 to 63 years provided 1,092 daily reports on affective work events, emotion regulation, attentional focus, persistence, and end-of-day affect. On days with negative-events, participants reported higher activation of emotion-regulation goals, lower attentional focus, and higher negative affect at the end of the workday. Effects were intensified on days with highly negative events. Yet, within-person associations of high-intensity events with emotion-regulation goals, attention, and end-of-day negative affect were reduced at higher age. Further analyses that accounted for age differences in emotion-regulation goals suggested that these play a role in age-related reductions in the event-related disturbance of attentional focus and well-being. There was no evidence of age-differential strategy use on eventful days. Findings are in line with proposed mechanisms underlying older employees’ resilience to daily stress.

摘要

高龄是否通过更高的情绪调节能力使员工在面对消极的工作经历时具有优势？在几天内，负面工作事件的发生与注意力、动力和幸福感的波动有关。这项研究检查了这些人际交往是否在员工年龄较大时减少，这表明弹性更高。该研究进一步调查了情绪调节目标激活和策略使用在这些关联中的作用。在两个工作周内，123 名年龄在 22 至 63 岁之间的员工每天提供 1,092 份关于情感工作事件、情绪调节、注意力集中、坚持和一天结束影响的报告。在有负面事件的日子里，参与者报告说情绪调节目标的激活程度更高，注意力集中度更低，在工作日结束时产生更高的负面影响。在发生高度负面事件的日子里，影响会加剧。然而，高强度事件与情绪调节目标、注意力和日终负面影响的个人关联在较高年龄时减少。解释情绪调节目标的年龄差异的进一步分析表明，这些在与年龄相关的注意力集中和幸福感障碍的减少中发挥作用。没有证据表明在多事的日子里使用了年龄差异策略。调查结果与建议的老年员工应对日常压力的机制一致。并且在较高年龄时减少了一天结束的负面影响。解释情绪调节目标的年龄差异的进一步分析表明，这些在与年龄相关的注意力集中和幸福感障碍的减少中发挥作用。没有证据表明在多事的日子里使用了年龄差异策略。调查结果与建议的老年员工应对日常压力的机制一致。并且在较高年龄时减少了一天结束的负面影响。解释情绪调节目标的年龄差异的进一步分析表明，这些在与年龄相关的注意力集中和幸福感障碍的减少中发挥作用。没有证据表明在多事的日子里使用了年龄差异策略。调查结果与建议的老年员工应对日常压力的机制一致。