Negative emotions and chronic physical illness: A lifespan developmental perspective.

Our primary goal was to test the idea that the link between negative emotions and chronic physical illness will become stronger as individuals age and their resources become increasingly limited.The data came from a 4-wave longitudinal study obtained from a sample of middle-aged (n = 500, mean age = 44.17, SD = .91) and older (n = 502, mean age = 62.87, SD = .89) adults who were observed for, on average, 13.59 years (SD = 7.32). Negative...