The Thoughts of Elderly Women Living Alone: Relationships with Mood and Activity

Using experience sampling, twenty-three women between seventy-one and eighty-seven years old kept records for a week of their thoughts, associated activities, and moods. Seventy-one percent of thoughts were present-oriented, 93 percent were rated as pleasant or affectively neutral in tone, and the focus of attention was most frequently the women's own current activities (44%) or other people (32%). The women found it very interesting to think about people, the past, and what they were or had been reading. The most pleasant thoughts and the most positive moods were associated with thinking about conversations and the women's current activities. However, broader consideration of practical concerns was often a boring, frustrating, and anxious experience. The most negative moods accompanied thoughts about themselves and about television programs.