Resources, life events, and changes in positive affect and depression in older adults

Hypotheses from a prospective conceptual framework were tested on a sample of 1,166 adults, age 55 and older, who were interviewed three times at 6-month intervals. Older adults with stronger resources had significantly more positive psychological states initially than those with weaker resources, and this advantage was maintained regardless of the levels of life events. There were significant main effects for desirable events and for undesirable events. Those with higher desirable events showed less decline in positive affect. Contrary to the "booster" hypothesis, there was no significant interaction between resources and desirable events. There was a significant interaction between resources and undesirable events on depression but detailed analyses showed that increases in depression over time were limited to the combined condition of weak resources and high levels of undesirable events. Weak resource persons with low or moderate undesirable events, in fact, showed modest improvements in depression.