Emotion regulation, hope, and optimism during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of age and personality.

Aims: This study examined age-related differences between young and older adults' emotion regulation, hope, and optimism 1 year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Whether personality explained such outcomes was also examined. Method: A sample of 228 young adults and 161 older adults was interviewed in April-May 2021 to complete questionnaires assessing cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) emotion regulation strategies use, optimism, hope (agency and pathways components), and personality traits. Results: Older adults reported greater CR and ES use, optimism, and hope-agency levels than young adults, whereas no age differences emerged for hope-pathway scores. Personality traits (more consistently emotional stability) contributed to explaining CR and ES use, and greater hopeful and optimistic dispositions. Conclusions: These findings confirm older adults' advantage in facing the emotional and psychological fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in its third wave. They also underscore the importance of considering personality to depict individual profiles prone to experiencing long-term negative emotional/psychological consequences of emergencies as COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]