University Assoc. Psychology Prof. Bethany Teachman's recent study about anxiety and age appeared in this month's edition of the Psychology and Aging journal, noting that older adults respond with less anxiety than their younger counterparts on a range of anxiety measures including affective, cognitive and physiological pressures. The age difference diminishes, however, when the anxiety is physical in nature. In fact, older adults reported feeling more threatened by physical threat scenarios.
"Our prime objective was to look at the triggers of anxiety and how they differ for adults and youngsters based on their concerns," Teachman said.
The study focused on social and physical categories, which Teachman said "naturally lend themselves to stress." The tests included possibly stressful but non-dangerous tasks such as candle blowing, straw breathing and speech.
Teachman said the results can be attributed to several factors, including the fact that the older one gets, the more experience one generally has. It is unlikely, though, that differences can solely be chalked up to the experience of older adults. "Our findings show variability even in the findings of older adults," Teachman said. "Moreover, if that was the only factor, their superior experience in physical stresses should have also reflected in the findings."
Because older and younger adults also tend to have different goals, they generally focus on different needs, she added. "Older adults concentrate more on the fulfillment of social and physical goals in current relationships, not future," she said. "So they are less responsive to certain stressors since [the stressors] have less relevance to them."
Teachman also pointed out that anxiety, in principle, is not always bad. It has many evolutionary advantages and becomes unhealthy only when not required in a situation.
She and co-researcher Tynessa Gordon hope their findings will lead to new anxiety treatment methods for adults of different age groups.
"The current treatments don't quite work for older adults," Gordon said.
-compiled by Aashish Edakadampil
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