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Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults a
a
Jennifer L. Smith & Linda Hollinger-Smith a
Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, Evanston, IL, USA Published online: 04 Dec 2014.
Click for updates To cite this article: Jennifer L. Smith & Linda Hollinger-Smith (2014): Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults, Aging & Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2014.986647 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.986647
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Aging & Mental Health, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.986647
Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults Jennifer L. Smith* and Linda Hollinger-Smith Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, Evanston, IL, USA
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(Received 22 September 2014; accepted 30 October 2014) Objectives: Guided by Fredrickson’s broaden and build theory of positive emotions and Zautra’s dynamic model of affect, the current study examines the relation between savoring positive experiences (i.e., the ability to notice and regulate positive feelings) and psychological well-being for older adults with higher and lower levels of resilience. Method: A sample of 164 (74% female) older adults living in a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Participants were recruited from a continuing care retirement community and community centers in the surrounding area. Participants completed a survey measuring savoring, resilience, happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life. Results: In older adults, greater ability to savor positive experiences and higher resilience both predicted greater happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life (i.e., greater psychological well-being). Savoring is associated with positive outcomes for people with higher and lower levels of resilience. However, the relationship between savoring and psychological well-being is stronger for people with lower resilience. Conclusion: These findings have implications for the development of positive psychological interventions to enhance resilience and well-being in older adults. From a practical standpoint, adaptable interventions to enhance savoring and boost positive emotions in older adults may improve well-being and resilience to life’s stressors. Keywords: positive psychology; emotion regulation; successful aging; happiness; depression
Introduction As people age, they encounter new challenges in their life. For some, aging in later life is a time of growth and personal discovery. There are opportunities to learn new skills, revisit hobbies and other enjoyments from the past, and volunteer or mentor others. However, others are more hindered by environmental changes, loss of loved ones, and decline of physical health. Successful aging involves adapting to changing circumstances without losing one’s quality of life. Rowe and Kahn (1997) argued that successful aging has three key components low risk of disease and disability, high physical and cognitive functioning, and high engagement in meaningful activities and social relationships. Since then, others have proposed that resilience the ability to successfully overcome challenges in life is another key component of aging well (e.g., Wild, Wiles, & Allen, 2013). Positive emotions are associated with greater resilience to stress and adversity (e.g., Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). The current study examines the relation between savoring (i.e., the ability to attend to positive experiences and regulate positive feelings) and psychological well-being for people with higher and lower levels of resilience.
Savoring positive experiences During positive events, some people experience positive affect more intensely and enjoy the experience longer,
*Correspondence author. Email: [email protected] Ó 2014 Taylor & Francis
whereas, others are less attuned to their positive emotions. In short, some people savor positive experiences more than others. Conceptualized by Bryant and Veroff (2007), savoring is the capacity to regulate your positive feelings by directing your attention to positive experiences, appreciate these experiences, and elaborate or enhance your experience of these positive moments in one’s life (Bryant, 2003; Bryant, Chadwick, & Kluwe, 2011; Smith, Harrison, & Bryant, in press; Smith, Harrison, Kurtz, & Bryant, 2014). People may enhance current positive feelings by savoring events from three different time orientations: reminiscing about past positive experiences, savoring positive experiences in the present moment, or anticipating future positive experiences (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Regardless of whether people are focusing on past or future experiences, savoring regulates positive feelings in the present moment. People tend to indicate that they are most capable of savoring through reminiscence and least capable of savoring through anticipation (Bryant, 2003). There are individual differences in ability to savor. Women typically report greater savoring capabilities compared to men (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Initial cross-cultural research suggests that savoring strategies aimed at amplifying enjoyment of positive experiences may be more typical in Western cultures, whereas strategies for dampening enjoyment may be used more in some Eastern cultures (e.g., Miyamoto & Ma, 2011). Personality traits that are associated with high savoring beliefs (i.e., perceived capability to appreciate and enjoy positive
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experiences) include extraversion, optimism, affect intensity, low neuroticism, and low guilt (Bryant, 2003). In addition, Type A impatience and perfectionism are associated with decreases in savoring strategies and behaviors (i.e., lower memory building, lower counting blessings, and higher kill-joy thinking) and less enjoyment of positive experiences (Smith & Bryant, 2013). Savoring is also linked to better psychological well-being. The ability to savor positive experiences is associated with greater happiness, life satisfaction, and perceived control (Bryant, 2003). Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the ability to savor may increase with age (Bryant et al., 2011). As people age, they tend to become better at regulating their emotions (e.g., Charles & Carstensen, 2009; Gross, Carstensen, Pasupathi, Tsai, Skorpen, & Hsu, 1997; Urry & Gross, 2010). The socio-emotional selectivity theory states that older adults prioritize emotional goals as they become increasingly aware of limitations on their time and lifespan (Carstensen & Charles, 1998; Charles & Carstensen, 2009). This prioritization of emotions leads to increases in attention to positive emotions, better emotion regulation, and greater emotional complexity (Carstensen & Charles, 1998). Therefore, it would stand to reason that these increases in emotion regulation would also extend to improvements in the ability to savor positive experiences, because positive emotion regulation is a key component of savoring. Although there is limited research on savoring in older adult populations, the existing evidence suggests that the ability to savor is beneficial for older adults. Older adults with high savoring beliefs report greater happiness in the past week compared to people with low savoring abilities (Bryant, 2003). Recent evidence suggests that the ability to savor positive experiences is most beneficial for people who report low numbers of positive experiences (Hurley & Kwon, 2013; Jose, Lim, & Bryant, 2012). In a 30-day experience-sampling study, the frequency of daily positive experiences and daily happiness was positively related, and this relation was strongest for people who used fewer savoring strategies (Jose et al., 2012). In other words, the happiness of people who used fewer savoring strategies was more dependent upon having high numbers of positive experiences. People who experienced lower numbers of positive events displayed greater happiness when they savored these experiences. In a two-week longitudinal study, Hurley and Kwon (2013) found that the relationship between number of positive experiences and wellbeing (i.e., positive affect and life satisfaction) depended on participants’ ability to savor the moment. For people with high ability to savor the moment, the number of positive experiences was unrelated to well-being. People who savored the moment reported positive outcomes regardless of the number of positive experiences. However, for people with lower ability to savor the moment, the number of positive experiences was positively related to their well-being. These studies suggest that the ability to savor matters the most for people who experienced few daily positive events. Savoring enables people to amplify the
benefits of positive experiences, which may increase their psychosocial resources like psychological well-being. Resilience Resilience has been defined as ‘flourishing despite adversity’ (Hildon, Montgomery, Blane, Wiggins, & Netuveli, 2010, p. 36) and as ‘a pattern of functioning indicative of positive adaptation in the context of significant risk or adversity’ (Ong, Bergeman, & Boker, 2009). Resilience is a constellation of factors that protects against exposure to and reduces reactivity to stressors (Almeida, 2005). Stressors can range in intensity and duration from daily hassles and irritations to chronic problems, such as depression and long-term illnesses. Even positive events, such as a wedding or job promotion, can be a source of stress. These stressors have an immediate impact on psychological well-being and physical health as well as a cumulative impact on health and well-being overtime (e.g., Almeida, 2005). Zautra (2009) identified two key aspects to resilience: recovery and sustainability. Recovery is the ability to regain functioning after a stressful event or trauma. For some, stressful experiences can lead to growth and learning opportunities that increase people’s ability to weather future challenges. Sustainability is the ability to endure and persist throughout life’s challenges. For instance, resilience moderates the relation between onset of chronic disease and development of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disabilities in older adults (Manning, Carr, & Kail, 2014). For older adults who developed a new chronic condition, high resilience predicted lower ADL and IADL disabilities. Although most resilience research has focused on children and adolescent populations, increasing attention is being directed toward research on resilience in older adults (e.g., Ong et al., 2009; Reich, Zautra, & Hall, 2010; Resnick, Gwyther, & Roberto, 2011). Individual resources and environmental/social supports influence the effects of stress on older adults’ health and well-being (e.g., Ong & Bergeman, 2004). Individual resources include personality traits, coping skills, spirituality, and physical health. For instance, higher trait resilience in older adults is associated with greater emotional complexity (i.e., positive and negative emotions co-occurring) as well as with greater social support (Ong et al., 2009). Environmental and social supports that enhance resilience include agefriendly housing designs, easy access to medical facilities, and close relationships with family and friends. Resilience and positive emotions The benefits of positive emotions extend far beyond the momentary pleasant feelings (for a review, see Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Positive emotions help to build social resources (e.g., Keltner & Bonanno, 1997), support coping and problem-solving processes (e.g., Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987), and improve physiological responses to stress and negative emotions (e.g., Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998;
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Aging & Mental Health Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). For instance, in a sample of older Hispanic adults, people who reported greater happiness, enjoyment of life, and hopefulness reported less frailty seven years later (Ostir, Ottenbacher, & Markides, 2004). Positive emotions also serve to boost resilience, which, in turn, promotes more positive feelings. Ong and colleagues proposed that high trait resilience is associated with a ‘resilience cascade’ older adults with high trait resilience tend to engage in more positive events throughout the day, experience more positive mood during these events, and the duration of their positive mood is longerlasting (Ong et al., 2009). In a study of college students, resilience mediated the relation between positive affect and depression (Loh, Schutte, & Thorsteinsson, 2013). In other words, positive affect predicted higher resilience, and higher resilience led to lower depression in college students. Fredrickson’s broaden and build theory of positive emotions postulates that positive emotions are a resource that people can draw upon when they encounter challenges or stressors (Fredrickson, 2001). Positive emotions lead people to try new activities, develop new skills, and engage in more positive social interactions. In turn, these experiences promote additional positive emotion. Positive emotions may boost resilience to stressful events, and people who are more resilient experience more positive emotions. Empirical research supports this link between resilience and positive emotions (e.g., Cohn, Fredrickson, Brown, Mikels, & Conway, 2009; Zautra, Johnson, & Davis, 2005). For instance, college students who reported more positive daily emotions showed a greater increase in ego resilience after one month (Cohn et al., 2009). Cohn et al. (2009) also found that ego resilience mediates the positive relation between positive emotions and life satisfaction. Other researchers found that positive emotions mediate the relation between high trait resilience and adjustment to daily stress in older adults (Ong et al., 2006). These findings support the idea that positive emotions and resilience mutually reinforce each other. Zautra and colleague’s dynamic model of affect provides additional theoretical background for the link between resilience and positive emotions (Zautra, Smith, Affleck, & Tennen, 2001). In most situations, positive and negative emotions tend to operate independently of one another. For instance, people can simultaneously feel happiness and sadness in bittersweet experiences, such as graduations and nostalgic reminiscing of past positive experiences (Larsen & McGraw, 2011). However, during stressful events, there is an inverse relation between positive and negative emotions, and negative emotions increase faster than positive emotions. An important implication of the dynamic model of affect is that people may increase their resilience to stress by increasing their resources of positive emotions or improving their ability to regulate their positive emotions. Supporting these theories, women with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia who reported higher levels of positive affect reported lower levels of chronic pain (Zautra et al., 2005).
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Current study The purpose of the current research was to examine the relation between savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being. More specifically, the study tested whether resilience moderated the relation between savoring and psychological well-being. Savoring and resilience were both expected to independently predict psychological well-being, including increased happiness, lower depression, and greater life satisfaction. In addition, we hypothesized that savoring would be more strongly associated with psychological well-being for people with lower levels of resilience. We predicted that savoring would have a greater impact on well-being for people with lower resilience, because they tend to have fewer psychosocial resources than people with higher resilience. The ability to savor positive experiences may enable people with lower resilience to capitalize on positive events and build resources that may already be in place for people with higher resilience. We tested the following three hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Higher savoring scores will predict better psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., higher happiness, lower depression, higher satisfaction with life). Hypothesis 2: Higher resilience scores will predict greater psychological well-being. Hypothesis 3: Savoring will be a stronger predictor of psychological well-being for people with lower (vs. higher) resilience.
Design and methods Participants A sample of 164 (74% female) older adults living in a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Participants were recruited from a continuing care retirement community and community centers serving older adults in the surrounding area. All participants were of age 55 or older. A quarter of the respondents were between the ages of 55 and 67 years (26%), two-third of the respondents were between the ages of 68 and 88 years (67%), and the remaining respondents were over 88 years old (7%). Participants were predominantly European Americans (84%). In addition, 41% of the respondents were married, and the remaining participants were widowed (31%), divorced (15%), or single (13%).
Measures Participants completed a paper-based or online survey that consisted of a series of questionnaires, including measures of savoring beliefs, resilience, happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life. The means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and correlations for each variable are presented in Table 1.
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Table 1. Correlations, means, standard deviations, and reliabilities of variables. Mean (SD) 1. Savoring 2. Resilience 3. Happiness 4. Depression 5. Satisfaction with life
1
2
3
4
5
4.03 (.61) .94 4.15 (.48) .60 .92 4.13 (.83) .71 .62 .89 1.58 (.49) ¡.61 ¡.55 ¡.66 .77 4.26 (.88) .50 .49 .64 ¡.60
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Note: All correlations are statistically significant, p < .01. Cronbach’s alpha is displayed on the diagonal for each measure.
Savoring Beliefs Inventory The 24-item Savoring Beliefs Inventory (Bryant, 2003) assessed participants’ beliefs about their ability to notice, appreciate, and enhance positive experiences that happen in their lives (e.g., ‘Before a good thing happens, I look forward to it in ways that give me pleasure in the present’ and ‘I enjoy looking back on happy times from my past’). Participants indicated how true each item was to them on a five-point scale (1 D not true of me, 5 D very true of me). Negatively worded items were reverse-coded and all items were averaged together. Higher scores indicate that respondents believe that they have a strong ability to savor positive experiences. Resilience Participants completed the 25-item Resilience in Older Adults Survey (ROAS; Hollinger-Smith, 2014), developed specifically to assess resilience in older adults. The measure taps into multiple aspects of resilience, including self-esteem, purpose and meaning in life, problem-solving approach, optimism, spirituality, pragmatism, and social support (e.g., ‘I am the type of person who looks at the brighter side of life’ and ‘I tend to approach problems in a logical manner’). Participants responded to items on a five-point scale (1 D strongly disagree, 5 D strongly agree), and items were averaged together for an overall resilience score. Subjective Happiness Scale Lyubomirsky and Lepper’s (1999) four-item scale was used to assess participants’ level of global happiness. Participants rated their global level of happiness and their happiness compared to others using five-item scales (e.g., ‘In general, I consider myself. . .’, 1 D not a very happy person, 5 D a very happy person). Items were averaged together, and higher scores indicate greater happiness. CESD-10 Participants completed the short, 10-item CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) to assess their level of depressive symptoms (e.g., ‘I was bothered by things that usually don’t bother me’ and ‘My sleep was restless’). Participants reported how often
each item described how they felt or behaved over the past week on a four-point scale (0 D rarely or none of the time (less than one day), 3 D all of the time (5 7 days)). Items were reverse-scored so that higher scores reflected greater depression, and all items were averaged together. Satisfaction with life A one-item measure was used to assess participants’ overall satisfaction with life (adapted from the Personal Wellbeing Index; International Wellbeing Group, 2013). Participants were asked to consider how satisfied they were with their whole life (e.g., ‘Thinking about your own life and personal circumstances, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?’) and to rate how satisfied they were using a five-point scale (1 D completely dissatisfied, 5 D completely satisfied).
Results Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized main effects of resilience and savoring on psychological well-being as well as the predicted Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction. Predictor variables were mean-centered in order to reduce multicollinearity and improve interpretability of the intercept. Savoring, resilience, and the cross-product interaction term were entered simultaneously into multiple regression models as predictors of each psychological well-being outcome (i.e., happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life). Following procedures outlined by Aiken and West (1991), simple slope tests were conducted to determine the nature of significant two-way interactions. More specifically, followup regression analyses with savoring predicting psychological well-being outcomes were conducted separately for participants who were higher (C1 SD) and lower (¡1 SD) on resilience.
Savoring and resilience predicting happiness As hypothesized, higher savoring scores uniquely predicted higher levels of happiness, b D .73, b D .54, p < .001. In addition, higher resilience was associated with greater happiness scores, b D .43, b D .24, p D .001. These main effects were qualified by a statistically significant Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction, b D ¡.31, b D ¡.14, p D .016 (see Figure 1). For participants with higher resilience, there was a significant positive relationship between savoring and happiness, b D .58, b D .43, p < .001. Higher savoring also predicted greater happiness for participants with lower resilience, b D .88, b D .65, p < .001. In other words, older adults with a greater capacity to savor positive experiences displayed higher levels of happiness regardless of their level of resilience. As predicted, the positive relationship between savoring and happiness was stronger for people with lower resilience compared to people with higher resilience.
Aging & Mental Health
5
5
Happiness
4.5
4
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
3.5
3 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
Figure 1. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting happiness.
Savoring and resilience both independently predicted depressive symptoms in older adults. Specifically, people with higher (vs. lower) savoring beliefs displayed less depression, b D ¡.36, b D ¡.47, p < .001. In addition, people with higher (vs. lower) resilience reported significantly lower levels of depression, b D ¡.23, b D ¡.21, p D .009. There was also a significant Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction predicting depression, b D .20, b D .15, p D .019 (see Figure 2). For people with higher and lower resilience, people with higher savoring reported significantly less depression compared to people with lower savoring, b D ¡.26, b D ¡.34, p D .001 and b D ¡.45, b D ¡.59, p < .001, respectively. This suggests that higher savoring may have a protective effect against depression, particularly for people who are lower on resilience.
Savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life As predicted, analyses revealed statistically significant main effects for savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life, b D .45, b D .32, p D .001, b D .48 and b D .25, p D .008, respectively. People with a greater capacity to savor positive experiences and people with higher resilience tended to report greater life satisfaction. In addition, there was a marginally significant Savoring £
Resilience two-way interaction predicting satisfaction with life, b D ¡.32, b D ¡.13, p D .071 (see Figure 3). For people with higher resilience, there was a marginally significant positive relation between savoring and satisfaction with life, b D .30, b D .21, p D .059. However, for people with lower resilience, higher savoring predicted significantly higher satisfaction with life, b D .60, b D .43, p < .001. Older adults with a lower level of resilience reported greater life satisfaction, if they had a greater ability to savor positive experiences. Older adults with higher resilience tended to report higher satisfaction with life, and there was only a slight improvement associated with greater savoring beliefs.
Discussion In older adults, higher savoring and higher resilience were both uniquely associated with greater happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life. The relation between savoring and older adults’ level of psychological well-being (i.e., higher happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life) depended on their level of resilience. For older adults with higher and lower levels of resilience, there was a positive relation between savoring and psychological well-being. In other words, people with higher and lower levels of resilience all tended to report higher happiness, lower depression, and greater life
2
1.75 Depression
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Savoring and resilience predicting depression
1.5
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
1.25
1 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
Figure 2. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting depression.
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Satisfaction with Life
5
4.5
4
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
3.5
3 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
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Figure 3. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting satisfaction with life.
satisfaction, when they had a high ability to savor positive life experiences. However, this relationship was stronger for people with lower levels of resilience. Why is the ability to savor positive experiences more strongly related to psychological well-being for people with lower trait resilience? Previous research found that savoring is associated with positive outcomes (e.g., happiness, positive affect, life satisfaction) for people who have lower numbers of positive experiences (Hurley & Kwon, 2013; Jose et al., 2012). Savoring and quantity of positive experiences did not have a synergistic effect. People who reported many positive experiences report similar levels of happiness regardless of the amount of savoring; however, savoring predicted psychological well-being for people who reported lower numbers of positive experiences. Along the lines of this previous research, we found that the relationship between savoring and psychological wellbeing was strongest for people with lower (vs. higher) resilience. The ability to savor positive experiences elicits more positive emotions, which may compensate for insufficiencies in other areas important to resilience. Resilience is a multifaceted construct. In addition to positive emotions, resilience is also associated with better social support, higher perceived control, greater optimism, and a host of other correlates (e.g., Reich et al., 2010). The individuals who report lower resilience may have deficits in other aspects of resilience, but they are able to capitalize upon positive experiences to enhance their psychological well-being.
Theoretical and practical implications To date, there has been limited research on savoring in older adults, and this study contributes to the growing literature on savoring and psychological well-being in this population. The current findings demonstrate that the ability to savor positive experiences is related to increased happiness, lower depression, and greater life satisfaction in older adults. Results of the current study are consistent with Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden and build theory of positive emotions. Older adults who are better able to savor positive experiences report more positive psychological well-being. This suggests that savoring positive
experiences leads to increased feelings of positive emotions and a broader range of thoughts and behaviors. The capacity to savor positive experiences appears to be an important aspect of successful aging. The socioemotional selectivity theory proposes that emotion regulation abilities increase with age as older adults prioritize emotional and relationship goals (e.g., Carstensen & Charles, 1998). Given these improvements in emotion regulation, strategies and interventions to enhance savoring may be ideal for improving psychological well-being, because it builds upon strengths of older adults. In addition, interventions aimed at increasing people’s positive feelings should also serve to increase their resilience for the reason that positive emotions are a resource during times of stress. Individuals who use a greater variety of savoring strategies report greater happiness compared to individuals who use fewer types of savoring strategies (Quoidbach, Berry, Hansenne, & Mikolajczak, 2010). These findings also suggest that interventions to enhance positive emotions will improve well-being and boost resilience among older adults (for an overview of different types of savoring interventions, see Smith et al., 2014). Savoring interventions could take many forms, including activities aimed at increasing anticipation of positive future events, heightening awareness of positive stimuli and positive emotions in the moment, and encouraging positive reminiscence of past events (e.g., through storytelling or memorabilia). For instance, college students assigned to a savoring condition were instructed to notice as many pleasurable aspects of their environment as they could during daily 20-minute walks (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). When participants noticed something positive (e.g., flowers, beautiful weather), they were instructed to acknowledge the experience and think about what makes the experience pleasurable. After one week, participants in the savoring condition reported greater happiness than participants in the negative focus and neutral control conditions. In addition, mindful photography is another intervention that could be used to enhance savoring and increase positive emotions (Kurtz & Lyubomirsky, 2012). During mindful photography, people are asked to spend 15 minutes taking photographs of something that brings happiness or meaning to their life.
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Aging & Mental Health Research on positive interventions has found that interventions are most effective when they are designed to be adaptable and to fit the needs and interests of users (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). In real life, people who actively use happiness-increasing activities report using seven or eight different types of activities, and they switched between activities as desired (Parks, Della Porta, Pierce, Zilca, & Lyubomirsky, 2012). In fact, individuals who participated in a greater variety of happiness activities reported greater improvements in mood (Parks et al., 2012). Savoring interventions for older adults should offer a variety of activities or methods of tailoring activities to fit the interest of the participants. A recent meta-analytic review found that savoring interventions tend to be effective at enhancing positive feelings and satisfaction with life (Smith et al., 2014). However, most of the studies included in the meta-analysis were conducted with university samples and none of the studies focused on older adults. Additional research is needed to determine which types of savoring interventions are most beneficial to older adult populations. For instance, savoring interventions may incorporate a past, present, or future focus or a combination of all the three time orientations. It is possible that interventions that incorporate positive reminiscence (past) or savoring the moment (present) activities may be more effective with older adults than interventions with a strong future focus (e.g., writing about their “best possible selves”; King, 2001). A benefit of savoring interventions is that it teaches individuals to become more aware of and capitalize on positive experiences and uplifts that are already occurring in their lives. Savoring interventions may be most beneficial for older adults who live in less stimulating environments or who have constraints on their breadth of experiences (e.g., mobility, financial, social). The current study also highlighted that the effects of resilience on psychological well-being are independent from the ability to savor positive experiences. Although positive emotions are an important component of resilience to stressful experiences, robust resilience interventions should also include other topics, such as problemsolving skills, communication, building social relationships, physical health, meaning and purpose, and spirituality. Facing an aging population and growing health care costs, keeping older adults healthy and resilient is a key objective. Limitations and future directions The current study provides further insight into the relation between savoring, resilience, and psychological wellbeing; however, there are several limitations that should be addressed in future research. The results of this study are correlational in nature, and the design of the study does not support causal inferences. Future research should examine the relationship between savoring and resilience, and the effect of these factors on psychological well-being using an experimental or longitudinal research design. Furthermore, future research should also examine the
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effects of savoring on other aspects of successful aging, such as physical health, social connectedness, and cognitive functioning. It should be noted that the two-way interaction between savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life was only marginally significant. Within the context of the larger study, we see the same pattern of effects for life satisfaction as we do for happiness and depression savoring beliefs is a stronger predictor of life satisfaction for people with lower resilience compared to people with higher resilience. Because happiness and depression are more affective, it stands to reason that the ability to savor positive experiences is more closely related to happiness and depression than an overall cognitive evaluation of one’s life satisfaction. Because of limitations on survey length, a one-item satisfaction with life measure was used instead of a multi-item scale (i.e., Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The single item may be less reliable than the multi-item scale. Future research should further examine the relationship between savoring, resilience, and satisfaction with life. The impact of resilience is most evident after a stressful experience. People are typically viewed as ‘resilient’ once they successfully overcome or recover from adversity (Reich et al., 2010). A limitation of this study is that it did not assess daily stressors or include a stress manipulation. In the current study, people with lower resilience reported greater happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life when they had a higher (vs. lower) ability to savor positive experiences. One area for future research is to examine whether the ability to savor helps to protect people with lower resilience from negative effects of stressful experiences. Although challenges in life, distractions, and worries that are too difficult or demanding may inhibit the ability to savor (Bryant & Veroff, 2007), the ability to experience positive emotions during times of stress helps to offset the negative feelings and alleviate some of the negative repercussions (Zautra et al., 2005). Future research should further examine savoring processes in older adults. Additional research is needed to identify what types of savoring strategies are used most often and most effectively by older adults (Bryant et al., 2011). What types of positive experiences promote savoring in older adults? Drawing upon the socio-emotional selectivity theory (e.g., Carstensen & Charles, 1998), older adults may find it easier or more desirable to savor social or relationship-focused events rather than achievement-oriented experiences. In addition, older adults may experience more positive outcomes by reminiscing about positive past experiences rather than anticipating future experiences. For instance, Staudinger, Bluck, and Herzberg (2003) found differences in older adults’ reports of their past, present, and future subjective well-being. Specifically, older adults reported that their present subjective well-being was lower than it was 10 years ago, and they anticipated that their future subjective well-being will be lower than it is at present. Another limitation of this study is that the majority of respondents were European Americans. Some initial research has found cultural differences in tendencies to
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use amplifying (e.g., celebrating a success) and dampening (e.g., kill-joy thinking) strategies (e.g., Miyamoto & Ma, 2011). Specifically, savoring strategies aimed at enhancing and up-regulating positive emotions were used more by people from individualistic Western cultures, whereas strategies that dampen or down-regulate positive emotions were more common in collectivistic Eastern cultures. Additional research is needed to more fully understand how cultural norms and beliefs influence older adults’ capacity to savor positive experience as well as the cognitive and behavioral strategies used to regulate positive emotions. Furthermore, efforts should be made to incorporate culturally relevant beliefs and practices into interventions to enhance savoring and boost positive experiences. The current study highlights the important role that savoring and resilience play in successful aging. The ability to savor positive experiences and resilience independently predicts higher happiness and satisfaction and lower depression in older adults. This suggests that positive interventions designed to support successful aging should incorporate activities to enhance older adults’ ability to savor positive experiences and to bolster resources that protect against the negative effects of stress.
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Aging & Mental Health Ostir, G.V., Ottenbacher, K.J., & Markides, K.S. (2004). Onset of frailty in older adults and the protective role of positive affect. Psychology and Aging, 19, 402 408. Parks, A.C., Della Porta, M.D., Pierce, R.S., Zilca, R., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). Pursuing happiness in everyday life: The characteristics and behaviors of online happiness seekers. Emotion, 12, 1222 1234. Quoidbach, J., Berry, E.V., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2010). Positive emotion regulation and well-being: Comparing the impact of eight savoring and dampening strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 368 373. Reich, J.W., Zautra, A.J., & Hall, J.S. (2010). Handbook of adult resilience. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Resnick, B., Gwyther, L.P., & Roberto, K.A. (2011). Resilience in aging: Concepts, research, and outcomes. New York, NY: Springer. Rowe, J.W., & Kahn, R.L. (1997). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37, 433 440. Smith, J.L., & Bryant, F.B. (2013). Are we having fun yet? Savoring, type A behavior, and vacation enjoyment. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3, 1 19. Smith, J.L., Harrison, P., & Bryant F.B. (in press). Savoring. In S.J. Lopez (Ed.), The encyclopedia of positive psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Smith, J.L., Harrison, P.R., Kurtz, J.L., & Bryant, F.B. (2014). Nurturing the capacity to savor: Interventions to enhance the
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enjoyment of positive experiences. In A.C. Parks (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of positive psychological interventions (pp. 42–65). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Staudinger, U.M., Bluck, S., Herzberg, P.Y. (2003). Looking back and looking ahead: Adult age differences in consistency of diachronous ratings of subjective well-being. Psychology and Aging, 18, 13 24. Tugade, M.M., & Fredrickson, B.L. (2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 320 333. Urry, H.L., & Gross, J.J. (2010). Emotion regulation in older age. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 352 357. Wild, K., Wiles, J.L., & Allen, R.E.S. (2013). Resilience: Thoughts on the value of the concept for critical gerontology. Ageing & Society, 33, 137 158. Zautra, A.J. (2009). Resilience: One part recovery, two parts sustainability. Journal of Personality, 77, 1935 1943. Zautra, A.J., Johnson, L.M., & Davis, M.C. (2005). Positive affect as a source of resilience for women in chronic pain. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 212 220. Zautra, A.J., Smith, B., Affleck, G., & Tennen, H. (2001). Examinations of chronic pain and affect relationships: Applications of a dynamic model of affect. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 786 795.
Aging & Mental Health Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/camh20
Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults a
a
Jennifer L. Smith & Linda Hollinger-Smith a
Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, Evanston, IL, USA Published online: 04 Dec 2014.
Click for updates To cite this article: Jennifer L. Smith & Linda Hollinger-Smith (2014): Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults, Aging & Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2014.986647 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.986647
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Aging & Mental Health, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.986647
Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults Jennifer L. Smith* and Linda Hollinger-Smith Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, Evanston, IL, USA
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(Received 22 September 2014; accepted 30 October 2014) Objectives: Guided by Fredrickson’s broaden and build theory of positive emotions and Zautra’s dynamic model of affect, the current study examines the relation between savoring positive experiences (i.e., the ability to notice and regulate positive feelings) and psychological well-being for older adults with higher and lower levels of resilience. Method: A sample of 164 (74% female) older adults living in a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Participants were recruited from a continuing care retirement community and community centers in the surrounding area. Participants completed a survey measuring savoring, resilience, happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life. Results: In older adults, greater ability to savor positive experiences and higher resilience both predicted greater happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life (i.e., greater psychological well-being). Savoring is associated with positive outcomes for people with higher and lower levels of resilience. However, the relationship between savoring and psychological well-being is stronger for people with lower resilience. Conclusion: These findings have implications for the development of positive psychological interventions to enhance resilience and well-being in older adults. From a practical standpoint, adaptable interventions to enhance savoring and boost positive emotions in older adults may improve well-being and resilience to life’s stressors. Keywords: positive psychology; emotion regulation; successful aging; happiness; depression
Introduction As people age, they encounter new challenges in their life. For some, aging in later life is a time of growth and personal discovery. There are opportunities to learn new skills, revisit hobbies and other enjoyments from the past, and volunteer or mentor others. However, others are more hindered by environmental changes, loss of loved ones, and decline of physical health. Successful aging involves adapting to changing circumstances without losing one’s quality of life. Rowe and Kahn (1997) argued that successful aging has three key components low risk of disease and disability, high physical and cognitive functioning, and high engagement in meaningful activities and social relationships. Since then, others have proposed that resilience the ability to successfully overcome challenges in life is another key component of aging well (e.g., Wild, Wiles, & Allen, 2013). Positive emotions are associated with greater resilience to stress and adversity (e.g., Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). The current study examines the relation between savoring (i.e., the ability to attend to positive experiences and regulate positive feelings) and psychological well-being for people with higher and lower levels of resilience.
Savoring positive experiences During positive events, some people experience positive affect more intensely and enjoy the experience longer,
*Correspondence author. Email: [email protected] Ó 2014 Taylor & Francis
whereas, others are less attuned to their positive emotions. In short, some people savor positive experiences more than others. Conceptualized by Bryant and Veroff (2007), savoring is the capacity to regulate your positive feelings by directing your attention to positive experiences, appreciate these experiences, and elaborate or enhance your experience of these positive moments in one’s life (Bryant, 2003; Bryant, Chadwick, & Kluwe, 2011; Smith, Harrison, & Bryant, in press; Smith, Harrison, Kurtz, & Bryant, 2014). People may enhance current positive feelings by savoring events from three different time orientations: reminiscing about past positive experiences, savoring positive experiences in the present moment, or anticipating future positive experiences (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Regardless of whether people are focusing on past or future experiences, savoring regulates positive feelings in the present moment. People tend to indicate that they are most capable of savoring through reminiscence and least capable of savoring through anticipation (Bryant, 2003). There are individual differences in ability to savor. Women typically report greater savoring capabilities compared to men (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Initial cross-cultural research suggests that savoring strategies aimed at amplifying enjoyment of positive experiences may be more typical in Western cultures, whereas strategies for dampening enjoyment may be used more in some Eastern cultures (e.g., Miyamoto & Ma, 2011). Personality traits that are associated with high savoring beliefs (i.e., perceived capability to appreciate and enjoy positive
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experiences) include extraversion, optimism, affect intensity, low neuroticism, and low guilt (Bryant, 2003). In addition, Type A impatience and perfectionism are associated with decreases in savoring strategies and behaviors (i.e., lower memory building, lower counting blessings, and higher kill-joy thinking) and less enjoyment of positive experiences (Smith & Bryant, 2013). Savoring is also linked to better psychological well-being. The ability to savor positive experiences is associated with greater happiness, life satisfaction, and perceived control (Bryant, 2003). Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the ability to savor may increase with age (Bryant et al., 2011). As people age, they tend to become better at regulating their emotions (e.g., Charles & Carstensen, 2009; Gross, Carstensen, Pasupathi, Tsai, Skorpen, & Hsu, 1997; Urry & Gross, 2010). The socio-emotional selectivity theory states that older adults prioritize emotional goals as they become increasingly aware of limitations on their time and lifespan (Carstensen & Charles, 1998; Charles & Carstensen, 2009). This prioritization of emotions leads to increases in attention to positive emotions, better emotion regulation, and greater emotional complexity (Carstensen & Charles, 1998). Therefore, it would stand to reason that these increases in emotion regulation would also extend to improvements in the ability to savor positive experiences, because positive emotion regulation is a key component of savoring. Although there is limited research on savoring in older adult populations, the existing evidence suggests that the ability to savor is beneficial for older adults. Older adults with high savoring beliefs report greater happiness in the past week compared to people with low savoring abilities (Bryant, 2003). Recent evidence suggests that the ability to savor positive experiences is most beneficial for people who report low numbers of positive experiences (Hurley & Kwon, 2013; Jose, Lim, & Bryant, 2012). In a 30-day experience-sampling study, the frequency of daily positive experiences and daily happiness was positively related, and this relation was strongest for people who used fewer savoring strategies (Jose et al., 2012). In other words, the happiness of people who used fewer savoring strategies was more dependent upon having high numbers of positive experiences. People who experienced lower numbers of positive events displayed greater happiness when they savored these experiences. In a two-week longitudinal study, Hurley and Kwon (2013) found that the relationship between number of positive experiences and wellbeing (i.e., positive affect and life satisfaction) depended on participants’ ability to savor the moment. For people with high ability to savor the moment, the number of positive experiences was unrelated to well-being. People who savored the moment reported positive outcomes regardless of the number of positive experiences. However, for people with lower ability to savor the moment, the number of positive experiences was positively related to their well-being. These studies suggest that the ability to savor matters the most for people who experienced few daily positive events. Savoring enables people to amplify the
benefits of positive experiences, which may increase their psychosocial resources like psychological well-being. Resilience Resilience has been defined as ‘flourishing despite adversity’ (Hildon, Montgomery, Blane, Wiggins, & Netuveli, 2010, p. 36) and as ‘a pattern of functioning indicative of positive adaptation in the context of significant risk or adversity’ (Ong, Bergeman, & Boker, 2009). Resilience is a constellation of factors that protects against exposure to and reduces reactivity to stressors (Almeida, 2005). Stressors can range in intensity and duration from daily hassles and irritations to chronic problems, such as depression and long-term illnesses. Even positive events, such as a wedding or job promotion, can be a source of stress. These stressors have an immediate impact on psychological well-being and physical health as well as a cumulative impact on health and well-being overtime (e.g., Almeida, 2005). Zautra (2009) identified two key aspects to resilience: recovery and sustainability. Recovery is the ability to regain functioning after a stressful event or trauma. For some, stressful experiences can lead to growth and learning opportunities that increase people’s ability to weather future challenges. Sustainability is the ability to endure and persist throughout life’s challenges. For instance, resilience moderates the relation between onset of chronic disease and development of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disabilities in older adults (Manning, Carr, & Kail, 2014). For older adults who developed a new chronic condition, high resilience predicted lower ADL and IADL disabilities. Although most resilience research has focused on children and adolescent populations, increasing attention is being directed toward research on resilience in older adults (e.g., Ong et al., 2009; Reich, Zautra, & Hall, 2010; Resnick, Gwyther, & Roberto, 2011). Individual resources and environmental/social supports influence the effects of stress on older adults’ health and well-being (e.g., Ong & Bergeman, 2004). Individual resources include personality traits, coping skills, spirituality, and physical health. For instance, higher trait resilience in older adults is associated with greater emotional complexity (i.e., positive and negative emotions co-occurring) as well as with greater social support (Ong et al., 2009). Environmental and social supports that enhance resilience include agefriendly housing designs, easy access to medical facilities, and close relationships with family and friends. Resilience and positive emotions The benefits of positive emotions extend far beyond the momentary pleasant feelings (for a review, see Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Positive emotions help to build social resources (e.g., Keltner & Bonanno, 1997), support coping and problem-solving processes (e.g., Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987), and improve physiological responses to stress and negative emotions (e.g., Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998;
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Aging & Mental Health Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). For instance, in a sample of older Hispanic adults, people who reported greater happiness, enjoyment of life, and hopefulness reported less frailty seven years later (Ostir, Ottenbacher, & Markides, 2004). Positive emotions also serve to boost resilience, which, in turn, promotes more positive feelings. Ong and colleagues proposed that high trait resilience is associated with a ‘resilience cascade’ older adults with high trait resilience tend to engage in more positive events throughout the day, experience more positive mood during these events, and the duration of their positive mood is longerlasting (Ong et al., 2009). In a study of college students, resilience mediated the relation between positive affect and depression (Loh, Schutte, & Thorsteinsson, 2013). In other words, positive affect predicted higher resilience, and higher resilience led to lower depression in college students. Fredrickson’s broaden and build theory of positive emotions postulates that positive emotions are a resource that people can draw upon when they encounter challenges or stressors (Fredrickson, 2001). Positive emotions lead people to try new activities, develop new skills, and engage in more positive social interactions. In turn, these experiences promote additional positive emotion. Positive emotions may boost resilience to stressful events, and people who are more resilient experience more positive emotions. Empirical research supports this link between resilience and positive emotions (e.g., Cohn, Fredrickson, Brown, Mikels, & Conway, 2009; Zautra, Johnson, & Davis, 2005). For instance, college students who reported more positive daily emotions showed a greater increase in ego resilience after one month (Cohn et al., 2009). Cohn et al. (2009) also found that ego resilience mediates the positive relation between positive emotions and life satisfaction. Other researchers found that positive emotions mediate the relation between high trait resilience and adjustment to daily stress in older adults (Ong et al., 2006). These findings support the idea that positive emotions and resilience mutually reinforce each other. Zautra and colleague’s dynamic model of affect provides additional theoretical background for the link between resilience and positive emotions (Zautra, Smith, Affleck, & Tennen, 2001). In most situations, positive and negative emotions tend to operate independently of one another. For instance, people can simultaneously feel happiness and sadness in bittersweet experiences, such as graduations and nostalgic reminiscing of past positive experiences (Larsen & McGraw, 2011). However, during stressful events, there is an inverse relation between positive and negative emotions, and negative emotions increase faster than positive emotions. An important implication of the dynamic model of affect is that people may increase their resilience to stress by increasing their resources of positive emotions or improving their ability to regulate their positive emotions. Supporting these theories, women with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia who reported higher levels of positive affect reported lower levels of chronic pain (Zautra et al., 2005).
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Current study The purpose of the current research was to examine the relation between savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being. More specifically, the study tested whether resilience moderated the relation between savoring and psychological well-being. Savoring and resilience were both expected to independently predict psychological well-being, including increased happiness, lower depression, and greater life satisfaction. In addition, we hypothesized that savoring would be more strongly associated with psychological well-being for people with lower levels of resilience. We predicted that savoring would have a greater impact on well-being for people with lower resilience, because they tend to have fewer psychosocial resources than people with higher resilience. The ability to savor positive experiences may enable people with lower resilience to capitalize on positive events and build resources that may already be in place for people with higher resilience. We tested the following three hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Higher savoring scores will predict better psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., higher happiness, lower depression, higher satisfaction with life). Hypothesis 2: Higher resilience scores will predict greater psychological well-being. Hypothesis 3: Savoring will be a stronger predictor of psychological well-being for people with lower (vs. higher) resilience.
Design and methods Participants A sample of 164 (74% female) older adults living in a large metropolitan area participated in this study. Participants were recruited from a continuing care retirement community and community centers serving older adults in the surrounding area. All participants were of age 55 or older. A quarter of the respondents were between the ages of 55 and 67 years (26%), two-third of the respondents were between the ages of 68 and 88 years (67%), and the remaining respondents were over 88 years old (7%). Participants were predominantly European Americans (84%). In addition, 41% of the respondents were married, and the remaining participants were widowed (31%), divorced (15%), or single (13%).
Measures Participants completed a paper-based or online survey that consisted of a series of questionnaires, including measures of savoring beliefs, resilience, happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life. The means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and correlations for each variable are presented in Table 1.
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Table 1. Correlations, means, standard deviations, and reliabilities of variables. Mean (SD) 1. Savoring 2. Resilience 3. Happiness 4. Depression 5. Satisfaction with life
1
2
3
4
5
4.03 (.61) .94 4.15 (.48) .60 .92 4.13 (.83) .71 .62 .89 1.58 (.49) ¡.61 ¡.55 ¡.66 .77 4.26 (.88) .50 .49 .64 ¡.60
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Note: All correlations are statistically significant, p < .01. Cronbach’s alpha is displayed on the diagonal for each measure.
Savoring Beliefs Inventory The 24-item Savoring Beliefs Inventory (Bryant, 2003) assessed participants’ beliefs about their ability to notice, appreciate, and enhance positive experiences that happen in their lives (e.g., ‘Before a good thing happens, I look forward to it in ways that give me pleasure in the present’ and ‘I enjoy looking back on happy times from my past’). Participants indicated how true each item was to them on a five-point scale (1 D not true of me, 5 D very true of me). Negatively worded items were reverse-coded and all items were averaged together. Higher scores indicate that respondents believe that they have a strong ability to savor positive experiences. Resilience Participants completed the 25-item Resilience in Older Adults Survey (ROAS; Hollinger-Smith, 2014), developed specifically to assess resilience in older adults. The measure taps into multiple aspects of resilience, including self-esteem, purpose and meaning in life, problem-solving approach, optimism, spirituality, pragmatism, and social support (e.g., ‘I am the type of person who looks at the brighter side of life’ and ‘I tend to approach problems in a logical manner’). Participants responded to items on a five-point scale (1 D strongly disagree, 5 D strongly agree), and items were averaged together for an overall resilience score. Subjective Happiness Scale Lyubomirsky and Lepper’s (1999) four-item scale was used to assess participants’ level of global happiness. Participants rated their global level of happiness and their happiness compared to others using five-item scales (e.g., ‘In general, I consider myself. . .’, 1 D not a very happy person, 5 D a very happy person). Items were averaged together, and higher scores indicate greater happiness. CESD-10 Participants completed the short, 10-item CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) to assess their level of depressive symptoms (e.g., ‘I was bothered by things that usually don’t bother me’ and ‘My sleep was restless’). Participants reported how often
each item described how they felt or behaved over the past week on a four-point scale (0 D rarely or none of the time (less than one day), 3 D all of the time (5 7 days)). Items were reverse-scored so that higher scores reflected greater depression, and all items were averaged together. Satisfaction with life A one-item measure was used to assess participants’ overall satisfaction with life (adapted from the Personal Wellbeing Index; International Wellbeing Group, 2013). Participants were asked to consider how satisfied they were with their whole life (e.g., ‘Thinking about your own life and personal circumstances, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?’) and to rate how satisfied they were using a five-point scale (1 D completely dissatisfied, 5 D completely satisfied).
Results Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized main effects of resilience and savoring on psychological well-being as well as the predicted Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction. Predictor variables were mean-centered in order to reduce multicollinearity and improve interpretability of the intercept. Savoring, resilience, and the cross-product interaction term were entered simultaneously into multiple regression models as predictors of each psychological well-being outcome (i.e., happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life). Following procedures outlined by Aiken and West (1991), simple slope tests were conducted to determine the nature of significant two-way interactions. More specifically, followup regression analyses with savoring predicting psychological well-being outcomes were conducted separately for participants who were higher (C1 SD) and lower (¡1 SD) on resilience.
Savoring and resilience predicting happiness As hypothesized, higher savoring scores uniquely predicted higher levels of happiness, b D .73, b D .54, p < .001. In addition, higher resilience was associated with greater happiness scores, b D .43, b D .24, p D .001. These main effects were qualified by a statistically significant Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction, b D ¡.31, b D ¡.14, p D .016 (see Figure 1). For participants with higher resilience, there was a significant positive relationship between savoring and happiness, b D .58, b D .43, p < .001. Higher savoring also predicted greater happiness for participants with lower resilience, b D .88, b D .65, p < .001. In other words, older adults with a greater capacity to savor positive experiences displayed higher levels of happiness regardless of their level of resilience. As predicted, the positive relationship between savoring and happiness was stronger for people with lower resilience compared to people with higher resilience.
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5
5
Happiness
4.5
4
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
3.5
3 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
Figure 1. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting happiness.
Savoring and resilience both independently predicted depressive symptoms in older adults. Specifically, people with higher (vs. lower) savoring beliefs displayed less depression, b D ¡.36, b D ¡.47, p < .001. In addition, people with higher (vs. lower) resilience reported significantly lower levels of depression, b D ¡.23, b D ¡.21, p D .009. There was also a significant Savoring £ Resilience two-way interaction predicting depression, b D .20, b D .15, p D .019 (see Figure 2). For people with higher and lower resilience, people with higher savoring reported significantly less depression compared to people with lower savoring, b D ¡.26, b D ¡.34, p D .001 and b D ¡.45, b D ¡.59, p < .001, respectively. This suggests that higher savoring may have a protective effect against depression, particularly for people who are lower on resilience.
Savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life As predicted, analyses revealed statistically significant main effects for savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life, b D .45, b D .32, p D .001, b D .48 and b D .25, p D .008, respectively. People with a greater capacity to savor positive experiences and people with higher resilience tended to report greater life satisfaction. In addition, there was a marginally significant Savoring £
Resilience two-way interaction predicting satisfaction with life, b D ¡.32, b D ¡.13, p D .071 (see Figure 3). For people with higher resilience, there was a marginally significant positive relation between savoring and satisfaction with life, b D .30, b D .21, p D .059. However, for people with lower resilience, higher savoring predicted significantly higher satisfaction with life, b D .60, b D .43, p < .001. Older adults with a lower level of resilience reported greater life satisfaction, if they had a greater ability to savor positive experiences. Older adults with higher resilience tended to report higher satisfaction with life, and there was only a slight improvement associated with greater savoring beliefs.
Discussion In older adults, higher savoring and higher resilience were both uniquely associated with greater happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life. The relation between savoring and older adults’ level of psychological well-being (i.e., higher happiness, lower depression, and greater satisfaction with life) depended on their level of resilience. For older adults with higher and lower levels of resilience, there was a positive relation between savoring and psychological well-being. In other words, people with higher and lower levels of resilience all tended to report higher happiness, lower depression, and greater life
2
1.75 Depression
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Savoring and resilience predicting depression
1.5
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
1.25
1 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
Figure 2. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting depression.
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J.L. Smith and L. Hollinger-Smith
Satisfaction with Life
5
4.5
4
High Resilience (+1 SD) Low Resilience (-1 SD)
3.5
3 Low (-1 SD)
High (+1 SD) Savoring
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Figure 3. Savoring beliefs and resilience predicting satisfaction with life.
satisfaction, when they had a high ability to savor positive life experiences. However, this relationship was stronger for people with lower levels of resilience. Why is the ability to savor positive experiences more strongly related to psychological well-being for people with lower trait resilience? Previous research found that savoring is associated with positive outcomes (e.g., happiness, positive affect, life satisfaction) for people who have lower numbers of positive experiences (Hurley & Kwon, 2013; Jose et al., 2012). Savoring and quantity of positive experiences did not have a synergistic effect. People who reported many positive experiences report similar levels of happiness regardless of the amount of savoring; however, savoring predicted psychological well-being for people who reported lower numbers of positive experiences. Along the lines of this previous research, we found that the relationship between savoring and psychological wellbeing was strongest for people with lower (vs. higher) resilience. The ability to savor positive experiences elicits more positive emotions, which may compensate for insufficiencies in other areas important to resilience. Resilience is a multifaceted construct. In addition to positive emotions, resilience is also associated with better social support, higher perceived control, greater optimism, and a host of other correlates (e.g., Reich et al., 2010). The individuals who report lower resilience may have deficits in other aspects of resilience, but they are able to capitalize upon positive experiences to enhance their psychological well-being.
Theoretical and practical implications To date, there has been limited research on savoring in older adults, and this study contributes to the growing literature on savoring and psychological well-being in this population. The current findings demonstrate that the ability to savor positive experiences is related to increased happiness, lower depression, and greater life satisfaction in older adults. Results of the current study are consistent with Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden and build theory of positive emotions. Older adults who are better able to savor positive experiences report more positive psychological well-being. This suggests that savoring positive
experiences leads to increased feelings of positive emotions and a broader range of thoughts and behaviors. The capacity to savor positive experiences appears to be an important aspect of successful aging. The socioemotional selectivity theory proposes that emotion regulation abilities increase with age as older adults prioritize emotional and relationship goals (e.g., Carstensen & Charles, 1998). Given these improvements in emotion regulation, strategies and interventions to enhance savoring may be ideal for improving psychological well-being, because it builds upon strengths of older adults. In addition, interventions aimed at increasing people’s positive feelings should also serve to increase their resilience for the reason that positive emotions are a resource during times of stress. Individuals who use a greater variety of savoring strategies report greater happiness compared to individuals who use fewer types of savoring strategies (Quoidbach, Berry, Hansenne, & Mikolajczak, 2010). These findings also suggest that interventions to enhance positive emotions will improve well-being and boost resilience among older adults (for an overview of different types of savoring interventions, see Smith et al., 2014). Savoring interventions could take many forms, including activities aimed at increasing anticipation of positive future events, heightening awareness of positive stimuli and positive emotions in the moment, and encouraging positive reminiscence of past events (e.g., through storytelling or memorabilia). For instance, college students assigned to a savoring condition were instructed to notice as many pleasurable aspects of their environment as they could during daily 20-minute walks (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). When participants noticed something positive (e.g., flowers, beautiful weather), they were instructed to acknowledge the experience and think about what makes the experience pleasurable. After one week, participants in the savoring condition reported greater happiness than participants in the negative focus and neutral control conditions. In addition, mindful photography is another intervention that could be used to enhance savoring and increase positive emotions (Kurtz & Lyubomirsky, 2012). During mindful photography, people are asked to spend 15 minutes taking photographs of something that brings happiness or meaning to their life.
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Aging & Mental Health Research on positive interventions has found that interventions are most effective when they are designed to be adaptable and to fit the needs and interests of users (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). In real life, people who actively use happiness-increasing activities report using seven or eight different types of activities, and they switched between activities as desired (Parks, Della Porta, Pierce, Zilca, & Lyubomirsky, 2012). In fact, individuals who participated in a greater variety of happiness activities reported greater improvements in mood (Parks et al., 2012). Savoring interventions for older adults should offer a variety of activities or methods of tailoring activities to fit the interest of the participants. A recent meta-analytic review found that savoring interventions tend to be effective at enhancing positive feelings and satisfaction with life (Smith et al., 2014). However, most of the studies included in the meta-analysis were conducted with university samples and none of the studies focused on older adults. Additional research is needed to determine which types of savoring interventions are most beneficial to older adult populations. For instance, savoring interventions may incorporate a past, present, or future focus or a combination of all the three time orientations. It is possible that interventions that incorporate positive reminiscence (past) or savoring the moment (present) activities may be more effective with older adults than interventions with a strong future focus (e.g., writing about their “best possible selves”; King, 2001). A benefit of savoring interventions is that it teaches individuals to become more aware of and capitalize on positive experiences and uplifts that are already occurring in their lives. Savoring interventions may be most beneficial for older adults who live in less stimulating environments or who have constraints on their breadth of experiences (e.g., mobility, financial, social). The current study also highlighted that the effects of resilience on psychological well-being are independent from the ability to savor positive experiences. Although positive emotions are an important component of resilience to stressful experiences, robust resilience interventions should also include other topics, such as problemsolving skills, communication, building social relationships, physical health, meaning and purpose, and spirituality. Facing an aging population and growing health care costs, keeping older adults healthy and resilient is a key objective. Limitations and future directions The current study provides further insight into the relation between savoring, resilience, and psychological wellbeing; however, there are several limitations that should be addressed in future research. The results of this study are correlational in nature, and the design of the study does not support causal inferences. Future research should examine the relationship between savoring and resilience, and the effect of these factors on psychological well-being using an experimental or longitudinal research design. Furthermore, future research should also examine the
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effects of savoring on other aspects of successful aging, such as physical health, social connectedness, and cognitive functioning. It should be noted that the two-way interaction between savoring and resilience predicting satisfaction with life was only marginally significant. Within the context of the larger study, we see the same pattern of effects for life satisfaction as we do for happiness and depression savoring beliefs is a stronger predictor of life satisfaction for people with lower resilience compared to people with higher resilience. Because happiness and depression are more affective, it stands to reason that the ability to savor positive experiences is more closely related to happiness and depression than an overall cognitive evaluation of one’s life satisfaction. Because of limitations on survey length, a one-item satisfaction with life measure was used instead of a multi-item scale (i.e., Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The single item may be less reliable than the multi-item scale. Future research should further examine the relationship between savoring, resilience, and satisfaction with life. The impact of resilience is most evident after a stressful experience. People are typically viewed as ‘resilient’ once they successfully overcome or recover from adversity (Reich et al., 2010). A limitation of this study is that it did not assess daily stressors or include a stress manipulation. In the current study, people with lower resilience reported greater happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life when they had a higher (vs. lower) ability to savor positive experiences. One area for future research is to examine whether the ability to savor helps to protect people with lower resilience from negative effects of stressful experiences. Although challenges in life, distractions, and worries that are too difficult or demanding may inhibit the ability to savor (Bryant & Veroff, 2007), the ability to experience positive emotions during times of stress helps to offset the negative feelings and alleviate some of the negative repercussions (Zautra et al., 2005). Future research should further examine savoring processes in older adults. Additional research is needed to identify what types of savoring strategies are used most often and most effectively by older adults (Bryant et al., 2011). What types of positive experiences promote savoring in older adults? Drawing upon the socio-emotional selectivity theory (e.g., Carstensen & Charles, 1998), older adults may find it easier or more desirable to savor social or relationship-focused events rather than achievement-oriented experiences. In addition, older adults may experience more positive outcomes by reminiscing about positive past experiences rather than anticipating future experiences. For instance, Staudinger, Bluck, and Herzberg (2003) found differences in older adults’ reports of their past, present, and future subjective well-being. Specifically, older adults reported that their present subjective well-being was lower than it was 10 years ago, and they anticipated that their future subjective well-being will be lower than it is at present. Another limitation of this study is that the majority of respondents were European Americans. Some initial research has found cultural differences in tendencies to
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use amplifying (e.g., celebrating a success) and dampening (e.g., kill-joy thinking) strategies (e.g., Miyamoto & Ma, 2011). Specifically, savoring strategies aimed at enhancing and up-regulating positive emotions were used more by people from individualistic Western cultures, whereas strategies that dampen or down-regulate positive emotions were more common in collectivistic Eastern cultures. Additional research is needed to more fully understand how cultural norms and beliefs influence older adults’ capacity to savor positive experience as well as the cognitive and behavioral strategies used to regulate positive emotions. Furthermore, efforts should be made to incorporate culturally relevant beliefs and practices into interventions to enhance savoring and boost positive experiences. The current study highlights the important role that savoring and resilience play in successful aging. The ability to savor positive experiences and resilience independently predicts higher happiness and satisfaction and lower depression in older adults. This suggests that positive interventions designed to support successful aging should incorporate activities to enhance older adults’ ability to savor positive experiences and to bolster resources that protect against the negative effects of stress.
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