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1. Age differences in problem solving strategies: The mediating role of future
time perspective
Dannii Y. Yeung a,⇑
, Helene H. Fung b,⇑
, Chester Kam c
a
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
b
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
c
The University of Western Ontario, Canada
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 22 October 2011
Received in revised form 17 January 2012
Accepted 17 February 2012
Available online 10 March 2012
Keywords:
Problem-focused strategies
Emotion regulation
Age
Future time perspective
a b s t r a c t
This paper reports results of two studies examining age differences in problem-solving strategies in
hypothetical interpersonal scenarios, with perception of future time as a mediator. Three types of prob-
lem-solving strategies were examined, namely problem-focused strategies (e.g., active planning), proac-
tive emotion-regulation (e.g., emotional support), and passive emotion-regulation (e.g., avoidance). Each
sample consisted of younger (aged 17–24 years) and older Hong Kong Chinese adults (aged 61–94 years).
Results showed that older adults tended to use more passive emotion-regulation and less problem-
focused strategies and proactive emotion-regulation. Age differences in problem-focused strategies were
mediated by perceived future time. These findings advanced the literature by showing that age differ-
ences in problem-solving strategies might be partially explained by future time perspective.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, Isaacowitz,
& Charles, 1999) argues that people prioritize emotionally mean-
ingful goals over future-oriented goals as they perceive future time
as increasingly limited. Carstensen and colleagues (2003) extended
this theory to understand the age effect on problem-solving. They
hypothesize that for people who perceive an open-ended future, it
is adaptive to invest in problem-focused strategies that can poten-
tially remove the problem once and for all. However, for people
who perceive future time as limited, emotion-focused strategies
may be more consistent with their prioritized emotional goals.
As a result, the age differences in problem-solving (Blanchard-
Fields, Jahnke, & Camp, 1995; Charles, Carstensen, & McFall,
2001) and coping strategies (Folkman, Lazarus, Pimley, & Novacek,
1987; Yeung & Fung, 2007) found in the literature may be attribut-
able to age differences in future time perspective (FTP). To the best
of our knowledge, this hypothesis has never been empirically
tested. This paper aimed at testing this hypothesis empirically by
examining younger and older adults’ problem-solving strategies
toward hypothetical scenarios and whether these age differences
would be mediated by FTP.
1.1. Age differences in problem-solving strategies
Problem-solving is defined as an attempt to deal with the prob-
lem to achieve the goal state and to remove the discomfort gener-
ated (Blanchard-Fields, 2007; Sinnott, 1989). An age effect has
been shown on problem-solving strategies, with an age-related de-
crease in problem-focused strategies (PROBLEM) such as active
planning, and increase in emotion-focused strategies such as
avoidance and emotional support (Blanchard-Fields, 2007; Charles
et al., 2001). When facing a problem, younger adults tend to focus
their attention on the problem and use strategies that are directed
toward the solution of the problem. Older adults are less likely to
be involved in the direct confrontation with the problem. Rather,
they prefer emotion-focused strategies such as inhibition of
emotions or relying on others to solve the problem (Blanchard-
Fields, Stein, & Watson, 2004). Other studies have illuminated the
moderating role of the nature of the problem (Blanchard-Fields,
Chen, & Norris, 1997; Blanchard-Fields et al., 1995; Hoppmann &
Blanchard-Fields, 2011). For example, in instrumental domains
that are relatively low in emotional salience (e.g., returning a
product to a store), few age differences in PROBLEM were observed.
But age differences were observed in interpersonal contexts that
were more emotionally salient (e.g., quarrel with your spouse),
usually in the direction of using more emotion-focused strategies
among older people and more PROBLEM among younger people
(Blanchard-Fields et al., 1995, 1997; Smith & Baltes, 1990).
Blanchard-Fields and colleagues (2004) further distinguished
between passive and proactive emotion-regulation. Both types of
0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.02.014
⇑ Corresponding authors. Tel.: +852 3442 8119; fax: +852 3442 0283.
E-mail addresses: dannii.yeung@cityu.edu.hk (D.Y. Yeung), hhlfung@psy.cuhk.
edu.hk (H.H. Fung).
Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 38–43
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

2. emotion-focused strategies aim at making one feel better about the
problem without directly solving it; but passive emotion-
regulation (PASSIVE) does so passively through strategies such as
avoidance and escape, whereas proactive emotion-regulation
(PROACTIVE) does so proactively by strategies such as seeking so-
cial support. Past studies have shown that older adults are moti-
vated to avoid negative emotions (Carstensen et al., 1999), use of
PASSIVE is thus more favorable to older adults because it helps
them to intentionally reduce negative experiences; whereas use
of PROACTIVE involves the confrontation of negative emotions
and therefore is less preferred by older adults. Blanchard-Fields
and colleagues (2004, 2007) indeed found that older people em-
ployed more PASSIVE but fewer PROACTIVE than younger people
when facing interpersonal problems.
1.2. Explaining the age differences
The most common explanation for the age differences in prob-
lem-solving strategies reviewed above is that younger and older
adults are facing different types of problems, and the relative
importance of problems differs across age groups (Blanchard-fields
et al., 1997; Lazarus, 1996), triggering different types of reactions.
In particular, the problems of younger adults are more likely to be
acute problems that have clear solutions such as occupational is-
sues, whereas those of older adults are more likely to be chronic
problems or interpersonal problems that do not have ready solu-
tions (Folkman et al., 1987). Given that people, regardless of age,
are likely to adopt problem-solving strategies that best fit the
problems they are facing, younger adults thus employ PROBLEM
more often and older adults use emotion-focused strategies more
often.
Another explanation can potentially be found within the frame-
work of SST (Carstensen, 2006; Carstensen et al., 1999). The theory
argues that perception of future time changes with age, which af-
fects selection and pursuit of goals. As people age, future time is
perceived as increasingly limited. The focus of goal pursuit shifts
from future-oriented goals to emotionally meaningful goals. Com-
pared with emotion-focused strategies, PROBLEM are more future-
oriented as they can potentially remove the problem once and for
all. Hence, people with a more open-ended FTP may find PROBLEM
more consistent with their goals and thus are more likely to em-
ploy them. In contrast, emotion-focused strategies can help man-
age one’s emotions even though they cannot directly address the
problem. They are more consistent with the goals of people who
perceive future time as more limited and thus are used by these
people more often. The fact that compared with younger counter-
parts, older adults are more likely to focus on emotionally mean-
ingful goals, has been well documented in the interpersonal and
cognitive literatures (e.g., Carstensen & Mikels, 2005; Carstensen
& Turk-Charles, 1994). These age differences in goals are accounted
for by FTP (Fung & Carstensen, 2004; Fung, Carstensen, & Lutz,
1999). Other studies have shown that problem-solving strategies
are related to goals and time perception. Specifically, younger peo-
ple’s autonomy goals were associated with the use of instrumental
problem-solving strategy which is directed toward themselves,
whereas older people’s generative goals were associated with the
use of instrumental problem-solving strategy which is directed to-
ward the needs and desires of other people (Hoppmann, Coats, &
Blanchard-Fields, 2008). Ouwehand and colleagues (2008) also re-
vealed that future temporal orientation (i.e., concern for the future
and the ability to plan and to imagine future possibilities) was pos-
itively associated with proactive problem-focused coping of mid-
dle-aged and older adults. These findings suggest that perception
of future time may influence the type of problem-solving strategies
that younger and older adults employ.
1.3. The present project
To the extent that age differences in goals are reflected in prob-
lem-solving, it is plausible to hypothesize that the age differences
in problem-solving reviewed above is accounted for by FTP. To the
best of our knowledge, this hypothesis has never been empirically
tested. The two studies reported in this paper aimed at testing this
hypothesis. Specifically, we hypothesized that compared with
younger adults, older adults used more PASSIVE and fewer PROB-
LEM and PROACTIVE toward hypothetical interpersonal conflicts,
and these age differences could be mediated by FTP. As a secondary
research question, past studies showed that situations with vary-
ing emotional impacts would affect the way to solve the problem
(Blanchard-Fields et al., 1995). We therefore tested whether these
age patterns on problem-solving strategies would be observed in
interpersonal situations with varying levels of emotional salience
in Study 2.
2. Study 1
In this study, we examined younger and older adults’ problem-
solving strategies in response to four hypothetical scenarios from
the study of Blanchard-Fields and colleagues (1995). We also
investigated whether such age effect was mediated by FTP.
2.1. Method
2.1.1. Participants
The sample consisted of 196 participants, including 98 younger
adults aged between 17 and 22 years (M = 20.44, SD = 1.02), and 98
older adults aged between 61 and 93 years (M = 75.09, SD = 6.48)
residing in Hong Kong. Younger adults were recruited from local
universities and higher education institutions, while older adults
were recruited from local senior centers and community centers.
The two age groups were different in formal education training,
v2
(196) = 68.94, p < .001, with all younger participants attained
secondary and higher education, and about half of older partici-
pants did not receive formal education and the remaining had pri-
mary education and above. Such an age pattern in education level
is indeed consistent with the demographic characteristics of the
general population in Hong Kong: For those aged 15–24, 76.5%
have secondary education whereas for those aged 55 and above,
44.5% of them do not have formal schooling and 23.7% with pri-
mary education (Census and Statistical Department 2006). Younger
and older participants were also different in sex distribution,
v2
(196) = 4.41, p = .04 (77.6% and 88.8% female respectively), and
self-rated physical health, v2
(196) = 20.04, p < .001 (M = 3.29,
SD = .69, and M = 3.42, SD = 1.07, respectively). Therefore, educa-
tion, sex, and physical health were statistically controlled in the
following analyses as covariates.
2.1.2. Measures and procedures
Ethics approval was first obtained from the research ethics
committee of the affiliated university before the study was imple-
mented. Informed consent was obtained at the beginning of the
study. Participants were presented with a set of four scenarios,
one at a time, in a randomized order. Younger and older partici-
pants completed the measures on problem-solving and demo-
graphic variables individually with the assistance of a trained
research assistant.
2.1.2.1. Scenarios. Four scenarios adopted from Blanchard-Fields
and colleagues (1995) were presented to participants, including
(1) you found an old friend cheating in the poker game; (2) you
were accused by a group member that you stole his/her money
D.Y. Yeung et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 38–43 39

3. from tour fees; (3) you were asked to take care of your grand-
daughter; and (4) you were accused by your neighbor that you left
rubbish outside his/her apartment. The scenarios were translated
into Chinese by two bilingual translators using the back-transla-
tion procedure. Slight modification was made on the scenario
about poker game. Specifically, playing poker was changed to play-
ing mahjong because the poker game is not as popular as mahjong
in Hong Kong.
2.1.2.2. Problem-solving strategies. After reading each scenario, par-
ticipants were asked to describe the way to solve the same situa-
tion if they were the main character. Eight items from the Brief
COPE were selected, which has been used for measuring younger
and older individuals’ adaptive and dysfunctional responses to deal
with a problem situation (Carver, 1997; Yeung & Fung, 2007). With
reference to previous studies (Yeung & Fung, 2007), the present
study categorized these strategies into PROBLEM (active coping,
planning, and use of instrumental support), PASSIVE (behavioral
disengagement, self-distraction and self-blame), and PROACTIVE
(use of emotional support). The Cronbach’s alpha of each strategy
was computed by averaging the reliability scores across the four
scenarios, with a = .78, .62, and .68 respectively. A composite score
was computed for each problem-solving strategy by averaging
item scores across the four scenarios. Correlation analyses showed
that PROACTIVE was moderately associated with PROBLEM
(r = .40) and PASSIVE (r = .30), p < .001, and the correlation be-
tween PROBLEM and PASSIVE was nonsignificant, r = .11, p = .11.
FTP was measured by the 10-item Future Time Perspective
Scale (Carstensen & Lang, 1996; Fung, Stoeber, Yeung, & Lang,
2008). Participants rated these items on a 5-point scale ranging
from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), with higher scores
representing a more expansive FTP. A sample item of this scale is
‘‘There is plenty of time left in my life to make new plans.’’ The
item, ‘‘I have the sense that time is running out,’’ was discarded
after the reliability analysis. The alpha of the remaining items
was improved from .61 to .81.
2.2. Results
2.2.1. Age differences in problem-solving strategies
A MANCOVA was conducted to examine whether younger and
older adults differed in the three problem-solving strategies, with
education, sex, and physical health as covariates. Results showed
that the age effect on problem-solving strategies {F(3,189) =
10.71, p < .001, Wilk’s K = .86, g2
= .15} were significant even after
statistically controlling for education {F(3,189) = .95, p = .42}, sex
{F(3,189) = 2.08, p = .10}, and health {F(3,189) = .93, p = .43}. In par-
ticular, younger adults used more PROBLEM {F(1,191) = 13.60,
p < .001, g2
= .07} and PROACTIVE {F(1,191) = 8.24, p = .005,
g2
= .04} but fewer PASSIVE {F(1,191) = 10.08, p = .002, g2
= .05}
than older adults. Education, sex, and physical health did not signif-
icantly predict the three strategies, thus they were excluded in the
following analyses.
2.2.2. Mediation of FTP on age differences in problem-solving
strategies
Regression analyses were conducted via Preacher and Hayes’s
(2004) bootstrapping approach and SPSS Macro to test the media-
tion effect of FTP on the relationship between age and problem-
solving strategies. Three mediation analyses were conducted for
each strategy, with age as the independent variable, FTP as the
mediator, and the strategy as the dependent variable. Table 1
summarizes the coefficients of the mediation models, Sobel test,
and the bootstrap results of 5000 samples for testing the signifi-
cance of indirect effect. Results showed that the age effects on
PROBLEM, PROACTIVE, and PASSIVE were no longer significant
after controlling for FTP (b = .137, .284, and .194, respectively).
Both Sobel test and the bootstrap results revealed that the media-
tion effect of FTP was only significant on PROBLEM {Z = 2.968,
p = .003; 95% confidence interval (CI) [ .494, .103]}, but not PRO-
ACTIVE or PASSIVE (Z = .675 and .581, ps > .50; 95% CI [ .362,
.191] and [ .102, .203], respectively). These findings showed that
FTP fully mediated the effect of age on problem-focused strategies
but not the two emotion-focused strategies.
3. Study 2
Blanchard-Fields and colleagues (1995) emphasized the impor-
tant role of emotional salience in understanding age differences in
problem-solving strategies. In this study, we speculated that simi-
lar age differences in problem-solving strategies would be ob-
served in interpersonal situations, regardless of the level of
emotional salience. Similar to Study 1, we also tested whether such
age differences were mediated by FTP.
3.1. Method
3.1.1. Participants
The sample consisted of 133 Hong Kong Chinese, including 68
younger adults (aged 20–24, M = 21.40, SD = .88) and 65 older
adults (aged 61–94, M = 75.78, SD = 8.07). The two age groups were
similar in sex distribution, with 54.5% and 69.8% female respec-
tively, v2
(133) = 3.20, p = .07. Younger participants were recruited
from local universities while older participants were recruited
from local senior centers. Similar to Study 1, younger and older
participants were different in formal education training,
v2
(133) = 25.29, p < .001. All younger participants had tertiary edu-
cation, and 32% older participants did not receive formal education
and the remaining had primary education and above. They also dif-
fered in physical health, v2
(133) = 22.54, p < .001 (M = 2.97,
SD = .76, and M = 3.48, SD = 1.15, respectively). Education and
physical health were thus statistically controlled in the following
analyses as covariates.
3.1.2. Measures and procedures
Similar to Study 1, ethics approval was sought, and informed
consent was obtained from each participant. Participants read each
of 10 problem-solving scenarios and answered the questions mea-
suring their strategies in dealing with the problem, FTP, and demo-
graphic variables.
3.1.2.1. Scenarios. Ten hypothetical scenarios representing different
problem situations in everyday life were adapted from the study of
Blanchard-Fields et al. (1995). Only 10 of the original 15 scenarios
were selected in this study because the remaining five scenarios
could not fit with the local context. Two scenarios were slightly
modified to fit with the local context. In particular, for the scenario
where the teenager ‘‘keeps using the only family car’’, it was mod-
ified to ‘‘keep asking for money’’ because car ownership is not com-
mon in Hong Kong families. For the poker game scenario, similar to
Study 1, it was modified to playing mahjong instead of playing
poker.
Blanchard-Field et al. (1995) have categorized these 10 scenar-
ios into three levels of emotional salience, including three scenar-
ios of low level (e.g., the poker game), three scenarios of medium
level (e.g., being accused of taking money from your mother),
and four scenarios of high level (e.g., taking care of an ill and aged
parent) of emotional salience. Details of each scenario can be found
in their article. The presentation of the scenarios was counterbal-
anced. No systematic difference in problem-solving strategies
was found for these counterbalanced versions.
40 D.Y. Yeung et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 38–43

4. 3.1.2.2. Problem-solving strategies. Blanchard-Fields et al.’s (2004)
measure of problem-solving strategies was used to assess the
way to deal with each problem situation. There are 12 items mea-
suring the three types of problem-solving strategies, PROBLEM
(e.g., cognitive analysis, planful problem-solving), PASSIVE (e.g.,
suppression of emotions, passive acceptance), and PROACTIVE
(e.g., confrontative emotion coping, seeking social support). Partic-
ipants were asked to indicate whether they would use each strat-
egy (0 = No or 1 = Yes) if they were the main character in the
scenario. The Kuder-Richardson coefficients of internal reliability
were .81, .82, and .83 respectively.
3.1.2.3. FTP. Similar to Study 1, the FTP scale was used. The internal
reliability was .75.
3.2. Results
3.2.1. Age differences in problem-solving strategies
Table 1 presents means and standard deviations of the three
types of problem-solving strategies among younger and older
adults. An age (between-subject: younger vs. older) X emotional sal-
ience (within-subject: high vs. medium vs. low) ANOVA was
conducted separately for the three problem-solving strategies, con-
trolling for education and physical health as covariates. The age X
emotional salience interaction effect was barely significant on PRO-
ACTIVE {F(2,119) = 3.03, p = .05,Wilks’ K = .95, g2
= .05}, but not
PROBLEM {F(2,119) = 1.20, p = .31, Wilks’ K = .98, g2
= .02} or PAS-
SIVE {F(2,119) = 1.47, p = .23, Wilks’K = .98, g2
= .02}. Further anal-
yses revealed that older adults reported fewer PROACTIVE than
their younger counterparts in scenarios of low and high emotional
salience. A significant main effect of age was found on PROBLEM
{F(1,120) = 13.23, MSE = .83, p < .001, g2
= .10} and PASSIVE
{F(1,120) = 10.27, MSE = .90, p = .002, g2
= .08}. The main effect of
emotional salience was not found on PROBLEM {F(2,119) = 1.94,
p = .15, Wilks’ K = .97, g2
= .03} or PASSIVE {F(2,119) = .97, p = .38,
Wilks’ K = .98, g2
= .02}. These results reveal that even after
controlling for education and physical health, older adults consis-
tently showed greater use of PASSIVE and fewer PROBLEM than
younger adults across scenarios, regardless of the level of emotional
salience. An age-related decrease in PROACTIVE was also observed,
except in scenarios of medium emotional salience, suggesting that
the moderating effect of emotional salience is limited. In view of
these findings, we averaged the scores of each problem-solving
strategy across 10 scenarios varying in emotional salience in the
following mediation analyses. Education and health were not signif-
icantly predictive of the three problem-solving strategies, thus they
were excluded in the following analyses.
3.2.2. Mediation of FTP on age differences in problem-solving
strategies
Similar to Study 1, regression analyses were performed to
examine the mediation effect of FTP on the relationship between
age and problem-solving strategies. Results are summarized in
Table 1. When FTP was statistically controlled for in the model,
the age effect on PROACTIVE was no longer significant (b = .045,
p = .134); but its effect remained significant for PROBLEM and PAS-
SIVE. Both Sobel test and the bootstrap results demonstrated that
the mediation effect of FTP was only significant on PROBLEM
{Z = 2.068, p = .04; 95% CI [ .069, .002]}, but not PROACTIVE
or PASSIVE (Z = 1.717 and .124, ps > .05; 95%CI [ .070, .008]
and [ .047, .046], respectively). These findings revealed that FTP
partially mediated the effect of age on problem-focused strategies
but not the two emotion-focused strategies.
4. General discussion
The present studies replicated the age effect on problem-solv-
ing, which has been primarily found in the Western samples, in
an East-Asian context. Consistent with prior literature (Birditt,
Fingerman, & Almedia, 2005; Blanchard-fields et al., 1995, 2004),
age differences in problem-solving strategies were found in face
of hypothetical interpersonal situations, in the general direction
Table 1
Mediation analyses on problem-solving strategies.
Younger
adults
Older
adults
b(YX) b(MX) b(YM.X) b(YX.M) Sobel test (Z) Bootstrap results for indirect
effect
M SD M SD M (SE) LL95CI UL95CI
Study 1
Problem-focused strategies 3.65 .73 3.18 .78 .433***
1.541***
.192**
.137 2.968**
.297 (.100) .494 .103
Proactive emotion-focused strategies 3.36 .72 2.98 1.03 .378**
1.541***
.061 .284 .675 .092 (.139) .362 .191
Passive emotion-focused strategies 2.30 .42 2.54 .57 .239**
1.541***
.029 .194 .581 .048 (.078) .102 .203
Study 2
Problem-focused strategies
Mean of 10 scenarios .89 .09 .77 .18 .124***
.727***
.047*
.090**
2.068*
.034 (.017) .069 .002
Low ES .88 .14 .73 .21
Medium ES .91 .13 .80 .23
High ES .90 .11 .77 .22
Proactive emotion-focused strategies
Mean of 10 scenarios .73 .12 .65 .16 .073**
.727***
.039 .045 1.717 .029 (.020) .070 .008
Low ES .74 .18 .63 .21
Medium ES .64 .15 .64 .20
High ES .79 .14 .68 .19
Passive emotion-focused strategies
Mean of 10 scenarios .42 .15 .52 .19 .103***
.727***
.003 .100**
.124 .002 (.024) .047 .046
Low ES .31 .20 .47 .24
Medium ES .41 .18 .50 .22
High ES .51 .18 .58 .22
Notes: b(YX) denotes the total effect of age on the strategy; b(MX) denotes the effect of age on FTP; b(YM.X) denotes the effect of FTP on the strategy, controlling for age;
b(YX.M) denotes the direct effect of age on the strategy, controlling for FTP. ES denotes emotional salience.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
***
p 6 .001.
D.Y. Yeung et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 53 (2012) 38–43 41

5. of more PROBLEM and PROACTIVE among younger adults and
more PASSIVE among older adults. We also found that FTP medi-
ated the age effect on PROBLEM but not PROACTIVE and PASSIVE.
Moreover, the moderating role of the emotional salience of the sit-
uations (Study 2) in age-related problem-solving was limited: it
was only shown in PROACTIVE but not PROBLEM or PASSIVE.
4.1. Role of FTP
Older adults in general were less likely to use PROBLEM to deal
with interpersonal problems than did younger adults, and such age
differences were found to be mediated by FTP. These findings are
consistent with SST (Carstensen et al., 1999, 2003). As people age
and perceive future time as increasingly limited, they are less likely
to focus on future-oriented goals and more likely to prioritize emo-
tionally meaningful goals. PROBLEM, with their potential of remov-
ing the problem once and for all, are more future-oriented. It is
thus not surprising that younger people, with a more open-ended
FTP, are more likely to employ PROBLEM to handle the problem
than do older people.
As pointed out by Blanchard-fields and colleagues (2004), and
reconfirmed by results of this project, the category of emotion-fo-
cused strategies actually includes two subcategories – proactive
and passive – which show opposite age-related trends. While older
adults are more likely to use PASSIVE than are younger adults, the
reverse is true for PROACTIVE. However, age differences in PASSIVE
and PROACTIVE were still observed and FTP did not significantly
mediate these age differences. Older adults, irrespective of their
FTP, tend to employ more PASSIVE like avoidance and suppression
of emotions, but fewer PROACTIVE like direct confrontation of neg-
ative emotions when they face an interpersonal conflict than do
younger adults. SST (Carstensen et al., 1999) stresses that older
people focus more on emotional goals and emphasize on emotion-
ally meaningful experiences. When dealing with interpersonal
problems, the use of emotion-focused strategies, particularly PAS-
SIVE, helps older people to reduce experiences of negative emo-
tions. Blanchard-Fields and colleagues (2007) demonstrated that
older adults reported a higher level of effectiveness in using avoid-
ance-denial to solve interpersonal problems. It is possible that the
use of PASSIVE effectively reduces the level of negative emotions
experienced by older adults, resulting in a habitual employment
of PASSIVE, relative to other problem-solving strategies. Future
studies should investigate both problem-solving strategies and
emotional experiences in order to advance our understanding of
age-related increase in PASSIVE. It is speculated that the use of
PASSIVE might be associated with a lower level of negative emo-
tions among older adults, but such a negative association is less
profound among younger adults. Other factors such as goal orien-
tation should also be examined to unveil the underlying mecha-
nism of age-related differences in emotion-focused strategies.
A few limitations should be considered when interpreting the
findings reported above. First, the two studies reported in this pa-
per were cross-sectional. We did not know whether a limited FTP
caused older adults to use a particular type of problem-solving
strategies. We were also unable to separate the age-related effects
from cohort effect. Future studies should experimentally manipu-
late FTP to test whether existing age differences in problem-solv-
ing strategies could be reversed. Longitudinal studies also
provide a better examination of the relationship between develop-
mental changes in FTP and changes in problem-solving, which
helps to address Lindenberger and colleagues’ (2011) concerns on
cross-sectional mediation analyses. Second, we assessed prob-
lem-solving strategies in response to hypothetical scenarios. Some
of these scenarios might be more relevant to older adults (e.g., tak-
ing care of grand-daughter in Study 2). Future studies should re-
cord personal experiences in handling interpersonal problems to
reveal whether the age-related pattern of problem-solving strate-
gies shown in this project could be generalized to real life situa-
tions. Third, future studies should also include middle-aged
adults in the sample to test whether the negative association be-
tween age, and PROBLEM and PROACTIVE, and the positive associ-
ation between age and PASSIVE, are linear across the lifespan.
Fourth, the two age groups differed substantially in their educa-
tional levels. Such an age pattern in education is indeed consistent
with the demographic characteristics of the general population in
Hong Kong as mentioned in Study 1. Nevertheless, future studies
should investigate whether more educated and less educated older
adults differ in their problem-solving strategies when dealing with
interpersonal problems. Finally, cognitive functioning may also
determine the amount of resources available to older adults, which
in turn influence their ways to deal with the problem. Future stud-
ies should directly measure the influence of cognitive ability on the
association between age and problem-solving strategies.
In summary, this paper examined age differences in problem-
solving strategies and tested the mediating role of FTP in explain-
ing these age differences. Findings demonstrated that younger peo-
ple were more likely to use PROBLEM and PROACTIVE, and less
likely to use PASSIVE, to deal with interpersonal problems than
did older people. Age differences in PROBLEM were mediated by
FTP, which revealed that younger adults perceive a longer and
more open-ended future ahead of them and wish to directly solve
the problems once and for all.
Acknowledgement
This project was supported by Hong Kong Research Council
General Research Fund (Grant No. CUHK444210). We thank Felix
Cheng, Sarah Leung, Alice Lu and Ho Yuen Wan for their assistance
in data collection.
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