Regret and Forgiveness in Aging: How Older Adults Navigate Emotional Challenges Through Adaptive Mechanisms

The global population of individuals aged 65 and older is growing, with the projection showing a rise from 721 million in 2021 to up to 1.6 billion by 2050 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023). In 2023, 34% of older adults aged 50–80 greater than the 27% who reported feeling isolated in 2018 (University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA), 2023). Given this, it is important to better understand the well-being of the aging population.

Regret, is defined as a negative emotion predicated on an upward, self-focused, counterfactual inference (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995; Zeelenberg, 1999). A vast literature suggests that older adults less frequently experience regret and manage it better than their younger counterparts (Bjalkebring et al. 2013).  *Include very high level example/overview here – maybe including link to forgiveness here*. Therefore, despite aging leading to decreases in several areas of psychological, physical, and emotional well-being, research indicates that aging may also be associated with improvements in certain areas of well-being.  

*insert stuff on forgeivness here or in the paragraph above*

This literature review examines how aging influences regret and forgiveness. Specifically, it outlines the impact of aging on three different types of regret (action vs inaction; low- vs high-opportunity; and prospective vs retrospective), as well as the psychological mechanisms associated with age-related effects on regret. Finally, interventions to manage regret and encourage forgiveness are discussed.