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Petrican R, Moscovitch M, Grady C. Proficiency in positive vs. negative emotion identification and subjective well-being among long-term married elderly couples. Front Psychol. 2014;5:338doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338.
Petrican, R., Moscovitch, M., & Grady, C. (2014). Proficiency in positive vs. negative emotion identification and subjective well-being among long-term married elderly couples. Frontiers in psychology, 5338. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338
Petrican, Raluca, et al. "Proficiency in positive vs. negative emotion identification and subjective well-being among long-term married elderly couples." Frontiers in psychology vol. 5 (2014): 338. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338
Petrican R, Moscovitch M, Grady C. Proficiency in positive vs. negative emotion identification and subjective well-being among long-term married elderly couples. Front Psychol. 2014 Apr 28;5:338. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338. eCollection 2014. PMID: 24803910; PMCID: PMC4009416.
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Front Psychol. 2014 Apr 28;5:338. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338. eCollection 2014.

Proficiency in positive vs. negative emotion identification and subjective well-being among long-term married elderly couples.

Frontiers in psychology

Raluca Petrican, Morris Moscovitch, Cheryl Grady

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada.

PMID: 24803910 PMCID: PMC4009416 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00338

Abstract

Evidence is accruing that positive emotions play a crucial role in shaping a healthy interpersonal climate. Inspired by this research, the current investigation sought to shed light on the link between proficiency in identifying positive vs. negative emotions and a close partner's well-being. To this end, we conducted two studies with neurologically intact elderly married couples (Study 1) and an age-matched clinical sample, comprising married couples in which one spouse had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (Study 2), which tends to hinder emotional expressivity. To assess proficiency in identifying emotions from whole body postures, we had participants in both studies complete a pointlight walker task, featuring four actors (two male, two female) expressing one positive (i.e., happiness) and three negative (i.e., sadness, anger, fear) basic emotions. Participants also filled out measures of subjective well-being. Among Study 1's neurologically intact spouses, greater expertise in identifying positive (but not negative) emotions was linked to greater partner life satisfaction (but not hedonic balance). Spouses of PD patients exhibited increased proficiency in identifying positive emotions relative to controls, possibly reflective of compensatory mechanisms. Complementarily, relative to controls, spouses of PD patients exhibited reduced proficiency in identifying negative emotions and a tendency to underestimate their intensity. Importantly, all of these effects attenuated with longer years from PD onset. Finally, there was evidence that it was increased partner expertise in identifying negative (rather than positive) emotional states that predicted greater life satisfaction levels among the PD patients and their spouses. Our results thus suggest that positive vs. negative emotions may play distinct roles in close relationship dynamics as a function of neurological status and disability trajectory.

Keywords: Parkinson's Disease; emotion recognition; marriage; older adults; point light walker; well-being

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