Overview
- The peer-reviewed paper in Emotion, published Thursday, reports that older adults had fewer recent regrets than younger adults.
- Older participants also described less intense 'hot' feelings such as anger and embarrassment when recalling mistakes.
- With age, regrets shifted from actions taken to missed chances, meaning older people more often rued what they did not do.
- Younger adults were more likely to plan fixes for recent regrets, whereas older adults leaned on acceptance and meaning-making.
- The study surveyed 90 U.S. adults ages 21 to 89 who listed recent and long-term regrets and rated their emotions and control, and the authors cautioned that the small, not very diverse sample and possible generational effects limit how far the findings generalize.