Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The relationship between cognitive reserve and the spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies in older adults: a cross-sectional study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Several studies reported cognitive reserve (CR) as an important factor in promoting healthy aging within a non-clinical aging population.

Aims

The main goal of the present study is to investigate the link between higher levels of CR and more effective emotion regulation. In more detail, we examine the association between a number of CR proxies and the habitual use of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression.

Methods

Three hundred and ten older adults aged between 60 and 75 (mean = 64.45, SD = 4.37; 69.4% female) joined this cross-sectional study by filling out self-report measures of CR and emotion regulation.²

Results

Reappraisal and suppression use were correlated. Practicing different leisure activities constantly over many years, being more original and having a higher education promoted more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal. These CR proxies were also significantly related to suppression use, even though the percentage of variance explained was lower.

Discussion and conclusions

Exploring the role played by the cognitive reserve on different emotion regulation techniques can be useful in understanding which variables predict the use of antecedent-focused (reappraisal) or response-focused (suppression) emotion regulation strategies in aging individuals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  1. Stern Y (2006) Cognitive reserve and Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 20:S69–S74

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Stern Y (2009) Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia 47:2015–2028

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Siedlecki KL, Stern Y, Reuben A et al (2009) Construct validity of cognitive reserve in a multiethnic cohort: the Northern Manhattan Study. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 15:558–569

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Amanollahi M, Amanollahi S, Anjomshoa A et al (2021) Mitigating the negative impacts of aging on cognitive function; modifiable factors associated with increasing cognitive reserve. Eur J Neurosci 53:3109–3124

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Le Carret N, Lafont S, Letenneur L et al (2003) The effect of education on cognitive performances and its implication for the constitution of the cognitive reserve. Dev Neuropsychol 23:317–337

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Scarmeas N, Stern Y (2003) Cognitive reserve and lifestyle. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 25:625–633

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Colombo B, Balzarotti S, Greenwood A (2019) Using a reminiscence-based approach to investigate the cognitive reserve of a healthy aging population. Clin Gerontol 42:408–420

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Colombo B, Antonietti A, Daneau B (2018) The relationships between cognitive reserve and creativity. A study on American aging population. Front Psychol 9:764

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Colombo B, Piromalli G, Pins B et al (2020) The relationship between cognitive reserve and personality traits: a pilot study on a healthy aging Italian sample. Aging Clin Exp Res 32:2031–2040

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Palmiero M, Di Giacomo D, Passafiume D (2016) Can creativity predict cognitive reserve? J Creat Behav 50:7–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Stern Y (2012) Cognitive reserve in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurol 11:1006–1012

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Nelson ME, Jester DJ, Petkus AJ et al (2021) Cognitive reserve, Alzheimer’s neuropathology, and risk of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychol Rev 31:233–250

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Chapko D, McCormack R, Black C et al (2018) Life-course determinants of cognitive reserve (CR) in cognitive aging and dementia—a systematic literature review. Aging Ment Health 22:921–932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ciccarelli N, Colombo B, Pepe F et al (2022) Cognitive reserve: a multidimensional protective factor in Parkinson’s disease related cognitive impairment. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 29:687–702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Roldán-Tapia MD, Cánovas R, León I et al (2017) Cognitive vulnerability in aging may be modulated by education and reserve in healthy people. Front Aging Neurosci 9:340

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Zarantonello L, Schiff S, Amodio P et al (2020) The effect of age, educational level, gender and cognitive reserve on visuospatial working memory performance across adult life span. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 27:302–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Balzarotti S, Biassoni F, Confalonieri F et al (2021) Cognitive reserve and driving-related cognitive abilities in a sample of oldest old drivers undergoing assessment of fitness to drive. J Appl Gerontol 40:1758–1767

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ihle A, Oris M, Sauter J et al (2018) Cognitive reserve and social capital accrued in early and midlife moderate the relation of psychological stress to cognitive performance in old age. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 45:190–197

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Ihle A, Rimmele U, Oris M et al (2020) The longitudinal relationship of perceived stress predicting subsequent decline in executive functioning in old age is attenuated in individuals with greater cognitive reserve. Gerontology 66:65–73

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Colombo B, Fusi G, Pabla S et al (2022) Challenge your brain. Blogging during the COVID lockdown as a way to enhance well-being and cognitive reserve in an older population. J Integr Neurosci 21:114

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Opitz PC, Gross JJ, Urry HL (2012) Selection, optimization, and compensation in the domain of emotion regulation: applications to adolescence, older age, and major depressive disorder. Soc Pers Psychol Compass 6:142–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Urry HL, Gross JJ (2010) Emotion regulation in older age. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 19:352–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Suri G, Gross JJ (2012) Emotion regulation and successful aging. Trends Cogn Sci 16:409–410

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Scheibe S (2019) Predicting real-world behaviour: Cognition-emotion links across adulthood and everyday functioning at work. Cogn Emot 33:126–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Sims T, Hogan CL, Carstensen LL (2015) Selectivity as an emotion regulation strategy: lessons from older adults. Curr Opin Psychol 3:80–84

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. John OP, Gross JJ (2004) Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. J Pers 72:1301–1334

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Bruno D, Brown AD, Kapucu A et al (2014) Cognitive reserve and emotional stimuli in older individuals: level of education moderates the age-related positivity effect. Exp Aging Res 40:208–223

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Tomaszczyk JC, Fernandes MA (2013) A positivity effect in older adults’ memorability judgments of pictures. Exp Aging Res 39:254–274

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Reed AE, Carstensen LL (2012) The theory behind the age-related positivity effect. Front Psychol 3:339

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. McRae K, Ciesielski B, Gross JJ (2012) Unpacking cognitive reappraisal: goals, tactics, and outcomes. Emotion 12:250

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Folkman S, Moskowitz JT (2000) Stress, positive emotion, and coping. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 9:115–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Gross JJ, John OP (2003) Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 85:348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Balzarotti S (2021) The emotion regulation questionnaire: factor structure and measurement invariance in an Italian sample of community dwelling adults. Curr Psychol 40:4918–4929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Hess TM, Beale KS, Miles A (2010) The impact of experienced emotion on evaluative judgments: the effects of age and emotion regulation style. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 17:648–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Li T, Fung HH, Isaacowitz DM (2011) The role of dispositional reappraisal in the age-related positivity effect. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 66:56–60

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Tucker AM, Feuerstein R, Mende-Siedlecki P et al (2012) Double dissociation: circadian off-peak times increase emotional reactivity; aging impairs emotion regulation via reappraisal. Emotion 12:869

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Shiota MN, Levenson RW (2009) Effects of aging on experimentally instructed detached reappraisal, positive reappraisal, and emotional behavior suppression. Psychol Aging 24:890

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Lohani M, Isaacowitz DM (2014) Age differences in managing response to sadness elicitors using attentional deployment, positive reappraisal and suppression. Cogn Emot 28:678–697

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Halfmann K, Hedgcock W, Denburg NL (2021) Neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal of positive and negative affect in older adults. Aging Ment Health 25:126–133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Liang Y, Huo M, Kennison R et al (2017) The role of cognitive control in older adult cognitive reappraisal: detached and positive reappraisal. Front Behav Neurosci 11:27

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Allard ES, Kensinger EA (2014) Age-related differences in functional connectivity during cognitive emotion regulation. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 69:852–860

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Antonietti A, Colombo B, Pizzingrilli P (2011) The WCR model of creativity. From concept to application. Open Educ J 4:80–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Opitz PC, Lee IA, Gross JJ et al (2014) Fluid cognitive ability is a resource for successful emotion regulation in older and younger adults. Front Psychol 5:609

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Wu X, Guo T, Tang T et al (2017) Role of creativity in the effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal. Front Psychol 8:1598

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  45. Gross JJ (2015) The extended process model of emotion regulation: elaborations, applications, and future directions. Psychol Inq 26:130–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Gross JJ (2001) Emotion regulation in adulthood: timing is everything. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 10:214–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Gross JJ (2002) Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology 39:281–291

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Richards JM, Gross JJ (2006) Personality and emotional memory: how regulating emotion impairs memory for emotional events. J Res Pers 40:631–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Brothers SL, Gereau MM, DesRuisseaux LA et al (2022) Reappraising cognitive reappraisal: the taxing impact of emotion regulation on executive functioning in older adults. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 44:258–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. McRae K, Jacobs SE, Ray RD et al (2012) Individual differences in reappraisal ability: links to reappraisal frequency, well-being, and cognitive control. J Res Pers 46:2–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Cutuli D (2014) Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies role in the emotion regulation: an overview on their modulatory effects and neural correlates. Front Syst Neurosci 8:175

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Brummer L, Stopa L, Bucks R (2014) The influence of age on emotion regulation strategies and psychological distress. Behav Cogn Psychother 42:668–681

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Emery L, Hess TM (2011) Cognitive consequences of expressive regulation in older adults. Psychol Aging 26:388

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  54. Palmiero M, Di Giacomo D, Passafiume D (2012) Creativity and dementia: a review. Cogn Process 13:193–209

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Brady B, Kneebone II, Bailey PE (2019) Validation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in older community-dwelling adults. Br J Clin Psychol 58:110–122

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Wiltink J, Glaesmer H, Canterino M et al (2011) Regulation of emotions in the community: Suppression and reappraisal strategies and its psychometric properties. GMS Psycho Soc Med 8:Doc09

    Google Scholar 

  57. Thomsen DK, Mehlsen MY, Viidik A et al (2005) Age and gender differences in negative affect—is there a role for emotion regulation? Personal Individ Differ 38:1935–1946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Paquet C, Kergoat M-J, Dubé L (2005) The role of everyday emotion regulation on pain in hospitalized elderly: insights from a prospective within-day assessment. Pain 115:355–363

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Gerstorf D, Ram N, Mayraz G et al (2010) Late-life decline in well-being across adulthood in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States: something is seriously wrong at the end of life. Psychol Aging 25:477

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  60. Opdebeeck C, Martyr A, Clare L (2016) Cognitive reserve and cognitive function in healthy older people: a meta-analysis. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 23:40–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Gyurak A, Goodkind MS, Kramer JH et al (2012) Executive functions and the down-regulation and up-regulation of emotion. Cogn Emot 26:103–118

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Hendricks MA, Buchanan TW (2016) Individual differences in cognitive control processes and their relationship to emotion regulation. Cogn Emot 30:912–924

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Kobylińska D, Kusev P (2019) Flexible emotion regulation: How situational demands and individual differences influence the effectiveness of regulatory strategies. Front Psychol 10:72

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  64. McRae K, Heller SM, John OP et al (2011) Context-dependent emotion regulation: suppression and reappraisal at the Burning Man festival. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 33:346–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Ivcevic Z, Brackett MA (2015) Predicting creativity: interactive effects of openness to experience and emotion regulation ability. Psychol Aesthet Creat Arts 9:480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Hoffmann J, Russ S (2012) Pretend play, creativity, and emotion regulation in children. Psychol Aesthet Creat Arts 6:175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Kopcsó K, Láng A (2017) Regulated divergence: textual patterns, creativity and cognitive emotion regulation. Creat Res J 29:218–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Zhang G, Chan A, Zhong J et al (2016) Creativity and social alienation: the costs of being creative. Int J Hum Resour Manag 27:1252–1276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Lü W, Wang Z (2012) Emotional expressivity, emotion regulation, and mood in college students: a cross-ethnic study. Soc Behav Personal Int J 40:319–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Gu H, Fang L, Yang C (2022) Peer victimization and adolescent non-suicidal self-injury: the mediating role of alienation and moderating role of mindfulness. J Interpers Violence 38:3864–3382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Champlain College, 163 S Willard St, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA

    Barbara Colombo & Adam Hamilton

  2. Psychology Department, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

    Ilaria Telazzi & Stefania Balzarotti

  3. Research Center in Communication Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy

    Stefania Balzarotti

Authors
  1. Barbara Colombo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adam Hamilton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ilaria Telazzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stefania Balzarotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Colombo.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

Protocols and procedures were conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Protocols and procedures for this research were approved by Champlain College’s IRB (COA IRB000128).

Informed consent

Each participant filled out an informed consent form.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Colombo, B., Hamilton, A., Telazzi, I. et al. The relationship between cognitive reserve and the spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies in older adults: a cross-sectional study. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 1505–1512 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02424-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02424-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation