The relationships between daily optimism, daily pessimism, and affect differ in young and old age

This study examined whether daily optimism and pessimism differently relate to each other among young adults (n = 96, mean age = 27) and old people (n = 95, mean age = 72), and whether they differently interact with each other in promoting adaptive emotional experience in these age groups. Findings show that daily optimism and pessimism were less strongly related to each other among old people. Moreover, a combination of high daily optimism – low daily pessimism was found as most emotionally beneficial for young people. In contrast combinations in which both daily optimism and pessimism were either low or high were most emotionally beneficial for old people. To conclude, in late-life daily optimism and pessimism are less interdependent as they interact in more diversified ways to maintain an emotionally adaptive experience. These adaptive interactions (e.g., low–low or high–high daily optimism and pessimism) may either reflect an attempt to preserve the functional status quo or may signal a highly complex mental organization.