Does Age Buffer or Exacerbate the Impact of Sadness and Anger on Romantic Relationships?

Abstract

Expressions of sadness and anger during a romantic relationship conflict can have distinct impacts on partners’ feelings of closeness and perceptions of conflict resolution. For example, previous research with younger couples suggests that expressions of sadness can help partners feel closer to one another, while expressions of anger tend to harm closeness and short-term conflict resolution. However, research has not considered whether older couples differ in their responses to sadness and anger expression during conflict, despite different theories of aging which suggest that older adults may be better or worse at regulating negative emotion in their relationships than younger adults. The current study (N = 280 dating and married couples, 30-88 years old) tested whether age buffers or exacerbates the effects of observed emotional expression (sadness or anger) on partners’ perceptions of closeness and conflict resolution. Contrary to the pre-registered hypotheses derived from theories of aging and emotion, no significant age differences in partners’ responses to sadness or anger expressions emerged. Expressions of sadness were also not significantly related to perceptions of closeness or conflict resolution. However, consistent with previous research, expressions of anger negatively related to both partners’ perceptions of closeness and conflict resolution. The present findings extend previous research by testing whether expressions of sadness and anger have distinct impacts at multiple stages of the lifespan. Additionally, the non-significant age differences contribute to a growing literature which identifies contexts where age differences in responses to negative emotional expression may be less likely to emerge.