Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Among Empty-Nest Older Adults with Depressive Symptoms Across Interpersonal Contexts

Depressive symptoms are common among empty-nest older adults in China, yet the interpersonal emotion regulation patterns linked to these symptoms remain unclear. We compared interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in sadness and anger contexts between empty-nest older adults with high and low depressive symptoms (N = 129). Participants reported passive, proactive, and problem-solving strategies, and cross-context variability was used to index regulatory flexibility. Results showed that the high depressive symptom group used fewer passive strategies (e.g., acceptance, avoidance/denial) across both contexts and showed lower cross-context variability. In sadness, they employed more suppression but fewer Express and Solve strategies (e.g., communication, advice-seeking, planning, and problem-solving); in anger, they used more Express and Seek strategies (e.g., expressing and understanding feelings). These findings suggest that depressive symptoms in empty-nest older adults correlate with a maladaptive regulatory style, marked by reduced passive engagement, less proactive involvement, and more suppression in sadness, more inward aggression in anger, and limited cross-context flexibility.