Calmness and excitement intensity and variability in old age: Linking stressful circumstances to well-being and health

The discrete emotion theory of affective aging posits that the adaptive effects of emotions vary depending on their ability to facilitate effective responses to developmental constraints and opportunities. Research suggests that calmness and excitement are two positive emotions with distinct functions and that calmness, but not excitement, supports effective adjustment to developmental constraints in old age, particularly when control perceptions are low. In the present research, we conducted a 1-week daily diary study with 169 community-dwelling older adults (Mage = 76.6, SD = 7.2). Data were collected in 2018. We examined the effects of calmness and excitement intensity (between- and within-person differences) and variability within the context of stressful experiences on older adults' well-being and health. We expected that levels, increases, and consistency (i.e., low variability) of calmness, but not excitement, may be adaptive, particularly among older adults with low control perceptions. Results from hierarchical and linear regression models showed that calmness intensity was associated with better well-being and health, on both the between- and within-person levels. Between-person levels of excitement intensity, by contrast, predicted poorer health and depressive symptoms among individuals with low perceived control. Compared to variable calmness, consistent calmness was associated with adaptive outcomes, particularly for older adults with low perceived control. By contrast, excitement variability was largely unrelated to well-being and health, except for a positive association with depressive symptoms among adults with low control. Findings inform functional theories of emotion by suggesting that positive emotions with disparate motivational functions can exert diverging effects in older adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).