Age-related changes in emotional behavior: Evidence from a 13-year longitudinal study of long-term married couples.

We examined age-related changes in emotional behavior in a sample of middle-aged and older long-term married couples over a 13-year period. Data were collected at 3 waves, each occurring 5 to 6 years apart. For the present study, only couples who participated in all 3 waves were examined (n = 87). Couples were either in the middle-aged group (40-50 years old, married at least 15 years) or the older group (60-70 years old, married at least 35 years). At each wave, couples engaged in 15-min unrehearsed conversations about an area of disagreement in their marriage. Emotional behaviors during the conversation were objectively coded using the Specific Affect Coding System. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that, for both husbands and wives, negative emotional behavior (primarily belligerence, defensiveness, fear/tension, and whining) decreased and positive emotional behavior (primarily humor, enthusiasm, and validation) increased with age. Findings generalized across middle-aged and older cohorts and levels of marital satisfaction. These findings support theories that suggest that positive emotion increases and negative emotion decreases with age, expanding upon previous findings by examining objectively coded emotional behaviors longitudinally in an interpersonal context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Genuine Smiles by Patients During Marital Interactions are Associated with Better Caregiver Mental Health.

ObjectiveProviding care for a spouse with dementia is associated with an increased risk for poor mental health. To determine whether this vulnerability in caregivers is related to the expression of positive emotion, we examined 57 patients with Alzheimer's disease and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and their spouses as they discussed a marital conflict.MethodFacial behavior during the discussion was objectively coded to identify Duchenne (i.e., genuine) smiles and non-Duchenne (i.e., polite) smiles. Caregiver mental health was measured using the Medical Outcomes Survey.ResultsGreater expression of Duchenne smiles by patients was associated with better caregiver mental health, even when accounting for covariates (i.e., diagnosis, patient cognitive functioning, and caregiver marital satisfaction). Greater expression of non-Duchenne smiles by patients was associated with worse caregiver health, but only when covariates were entered in the model. Expression of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles by caregivers was not associated with caregiver mental health.DiscussionPatients' expression of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles may reveal important aspects of the emotional quality of the patient-caregiver relationship that influence caregiver burden and mental health

Neuroanatomy of expressive suppression: The role of the insula.

Expressive suppression is a response-focused regulatory strategy aimed at concealing the outward expression of emotion that is already underway. Expressive suppression requires the integration of interoception, proprioception, and social awareness to guide behavior in alignment with personal and interpersonal goals-all processes known to involve the insular cortex. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) provides a useful patient model for studying the insula's role in socioemotional regulation. The insula is a key target of early atrophy in FTD, causing patients to lose the ability to represent the salience of internal and external conditions and to use these representations to guide behavior. We examined a sample of 59 patients with FTD, 52 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 38 neurologically healthy controls. Subjects viewed 2 disgust-eliciting films in the laboratory. During the first film, subjects were instructed to simply watch (emotional reactivity trial); during the second, they were instructed to hide their emotions (expressive suppression trial). Structural images from a subsample of participants (n = 42; 11 FTD patients, 11 AD patients, and 20 controls) were examined in conjunction with behavior. FreeSurfer was used to quantify regional gray matter volume in 41 empirically derived neural regions in both hemispheres. Of the 3 groups studied, FTD patients showed the least expressive suppression and had the smallest insula volumes, even after controlling for age, gender, and emotional reactivity. Among the brain regions examined, the insula was the only significant predictor of expressive suppression ability, with lower insula gray matter volume in both hemispheres predicting less expressive suppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

The development and validation of a new coding system for dementia patient-caregiver dyads: the Dyadic Dementia Coding System

Dementia is a debilitating disease for the individuals who are afflicted, as well as the family members who care for them. Much research has focused on factors that characterize the symptoms and behaviors of the patient, the traits of the caregiver that enable them to be more or less resilient throughout caregiving, and, to a lesser degree, the qualities of the relationship between patients and caregivers. For the latter, research has focused on marital satisfaction, language use when communicating, and mutual gaze within dyads. However, the behaviors that emerge during interactions between dementia patients and caregivers have rarely been explored. Many dyadic behavioral coding systems are available and widely used, but all of these systems were developed with healthy couples and may therefore lack the ability to capture the nuances of behaviors that emerge during interactions between dementia patients and caregivers. The present study sought to develop a new dyadic behavioral coding system that would accurately capture the behaviors and symptoms of dementia patients and the behaviors and responses of caregivers, as demonstrated by acceptable reliability (inter-rater and split-half) and validity (construct, criterion, and incremental). The sample was composed of 35 patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, 35 patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, 19 control patients, and their spousal caregivers. The final coding system consisted of nine patient and eleven caregiver codes, which captured patient behavioral symptoms (e.g., inappropriate laughter for patients) and caregiver responses (e.g., guiding appraisal). Results indicated that the dyadic behavioral coding system demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. In addition, the new coding system was able to distinguish between different kinds of dementia as well as identifying caregivers who are at greater risk of developing depression, above and beyond an existing, commonly used dyadic coding system. Implications of these findings for the development of interventions to improve caregivers’ mental health outcomes are discussed