Emotion regulation in older nursing home residents with and without depression and younger comparison samples

Objectives: We aimed to increase the understanding of emotion regulation (ER) and depression in older residents. Methods: A sample of depressed and non-depressed nursing home residents (N = 164, M-age = 82.63) were compared to younger patients with depression (N = 163, M-age = 37.4) and a non-clinical student sample (N = 635, M-age = 23.82). The Affective Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and in the older adults, cognitive capacity, access to people, and a facet of mindfulness were assessed. With two MANCOVAs ER was compared between the depressed and non-depressed participants. Results: Depressed and non-depressed individuals differed significantly regrading Adjusting and Tolerating after controlling for age, with an interaction significant for Tolerating (p = .034). Access to people and monitoring of experience were significant predictors of ER in residents. Conclusions: Interventions that include ER for older patients in nursing homes as a possibility to reduce age related stereotypes are discussed. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)