Abstract
Capacity to regulate emotion may explain why both negative and positive emotional factors impact age-related biological processes. However, scarce studies, mostly cross-sectional, have explicitly evaluated whether emotions and their regulation relate to HPA axis markers. Nurses’ Health Study’s women provided toenails twice, 1-year apart, and cortisol/DHEA were assayed (n=39). Emotion-related factors, including optimism, depression, and emotion regulation, were queried at baseline. Covariates (age, BMI) were time-updated. Using adjusted Cohen’s d, differences of small-to-moderate magnitude were evident across levels of emotional factors over 1 year. Notably, compared to lower levels, higher mastery related to smaller increase of cortisol (d=0.33); higher life purpose and optimism levels related to smaller decrease in DHEA (d’s=0.31 and 0.38, respectively). Other emotional factors revealed analogous findings. Together, positive emotional factors may promote healthier levels of HPA axis markers over time, while negative factors appear detrimental. If replicated, such results suggest emotional functioning may influence aging processes.