The similarity of regulatory focus among elderly parents, middle-aged children, and their spouses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the similarity in chronic regulatory focus (promotion/prevention) among elderly parents, middle-aged children, and their spouses. We made the 10-item short version of the Japanese Promotion/Prevention Focus Scale. The participants were 78 sets of middle-aged children (49.04 ± 4.06 years), their elderly parents (75.89 ± 2.74 years), and their spouses (49.38 ± 4.44 years). The results showed that the strength of children’s prevention focus was similar to that of parents’ prevention focus. On the other hand, the strengths of the promotion focus were similar between couples. We discuss the background of our findings wherein two aspects of regulatory focus have a different tendency in terms of similarity among parents, children, and their spouses in later life.