Mode of Social Contact, Verbal Communication of Emotion, and Well-Being in Late Life

Older adults prioritize emotions in their relationships, but communication of emotion may differ by in-person and phone contact. Older adults ( N  = 266, aged 65–90) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA; n  = 4,627) reporting their modes of social contact and positive and negative mood every 3 hours. Participants wore a device with the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) app which recorded 30 seconds every 7 minutes ( n  = 104,746 sound files). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) extracted linguistic features reflecting verbal communication of emotions from the sound file transcriptions. Multilevel models revealed that both in-person and phone contact were associated with communicating more positive emotions, yet only in-person contact was associated with communicating more negative emotions. Communicating positive emotions was associated with more positive mood and less negative mood, regardless of mode of contact. Participants who had less in-person contact on average experienced a greater increase in positive mood when they communicated positive emotions. This study emphasizes the emotional benefits of social contact, particularly in enhancing positive mood through communicating positive feelings. Findings highlight the unique role of in-person contact in older adults’ daily lives allowing verbal communication of negative emotions not evident via phone contact.