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. 2021 Apr 3;61(3):304-311.
doi: 10.1093/geront/gnaa046.

Dynamic Systems, Contextual Influences, and Multiple Timescales: Emotion Regulation as a Resilience Resource

Cindy S Bergeman  1 , Jessica Blaxton  1 , Raquael Joiner  1
Affiliations

Dynamic Systems, Contextual Influences, and Multiple Timescales: Emotion Regulation as a Resilience Resource

Cindy S Bergeman et al. Gerontologist. .

Abstract

We need to understand how psychosocial resources develop, identify the influences that threaten their maintenance, detect the circumstances under which these resources are used, and elucidate the factors that support and promote their growth. Three important components to studying the development of resilience include its dynamic nature, context, and timescale of measurement. Dynamic systems (DS) approaches focus on physiological and psychological structures underling the development of resilience by explicitly mapping parameters of change onto their corresponding aspects of functioning. Previous research has captured emotion regulation within individuals, across traits, and in close personal relationships to show how these methods depict dynamic regulation/resilience resources and their influence on outcomes of interest. The use of multi-time scaled data informs how daily emotion regulation is disrupted in the context of stress to produce dysregulation and disease later in the life course. This approach can also reveal how resilience resources counteract these adverse processes and allow others to thrive and be well. Researchers must not only explore short-term variation in constructs of interest, but also explore how these shorter-term fluctuations contribute to longer-term changes. The confluence of DS, contextual influences, and multiple timescales provides an important set of tools to better understand development.

Keywords: Methods; Psychosocial influences; Successful aging.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Depiction of the “warp and woof” of the developmental fabric, which represents the ways in which short- and long-term processes are woven together to produce the complexities of human development.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
As originally shown by Nesselroade (1991), this figure represents the integration of the dynamic emotion system, the contexts under which it is influenced (e.g., the effect of daily hassles, minor life stressors, major life events, and chronic strains), and the timescale represented by the dys- and reregulation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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