Everyday conversations of younger and older couples: Age differences in we-ness, emotions, and conversation topics.

Abstract

Emotional aging theories suggest that individuals increasingly prioritize close relationships and positive emotions as they get older. Past studies often used single-subject designs to test these predictions. Dyadic studies are rare and even fewer have examined how romantic partners interact in everyday life. Social sensing offers novel opportunities to study couples' socioemotional processes "in the wild" through naturalistic conversations. In this 21-day experience-sampling study, 55 younger (18-33 years) and 43 older couples (57-87 years) recorded at least two conversations on a smartphone. We used natural language analysis to examine age differences in we-ness (i.e., communal orientation and based on we-pronouns), positive and negative emotions (emotion words and laughter), and central themes (using the meaning extraction method) in daily conversations. The results from multilevel modeling revealed that older (vs. younger) couples' conversations were characterized by greater we-ness and less positive emotions (i.e., fewer positive emotion words and less laughter). Exploratory follow-up analyses suggest that age differences in positive emotions may have been driven by arousal, as older couples' conversations scored lower in positive high-arousal words. Age differences in negative emotion word use were not statistically significant. Analyses further revealed seven common conversation themes (e.g., social relationships, daily routine, food, money, or sleep). Younger couples, for example, referred more to other people and older couples more to places or orientation. In line with emotional aging theories, these findings show that older adults exhibit greater interdependence and lower high-arousal positive emotions in their everyday interactions and open the door for the future research on real-life couple interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).