The effect of reminiscence on older adults’ appraisals of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions

Abstract

In response to life disruptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults have engaged in appraisal processes that inform how they have coped with life changes. Given that different reminiscence functions, or ways of thinking about one’s past, consistently predict psychological well-being outcomes, the current investigation framed older adults’ pandemic appraisals in the context of how they reminisced during the pandemic. We predicted that reminiscence functions associated with positive well-being would predict positive pandemic appraisals and that negative reminiscence functions would predict negative pandemic appraisals. Ninety-five community-dwelling older adults (Mage = 74.31, SDage = 5.91) completed a self-report questionnaire to report the level of life-disruption they experienced due to the pandemic, how and how frequently they reminisced during the pandemic, and their current positive and negative appraisals of the pandemic. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses revealed that higher levels of pandemic disruption predicted negative appraisals, that more frequent positive reminiscing predicted higher positive and negative appraisal scores, and that more frequent negative reminiscing was associated with higher negative appraisal scores. The relationship between pandemic disruptions and appraisals was not moderated by reminiscence. Overall, these results support the role of reminiscence in the coping process but highlight that the well-being benefit conferred by positive reminiscence functions may be explained by their role in developing self-insight relative to both the positive and negative aspects of a disruptive situation.