The Influence Of Negative Life Events On Young Adults’ Subjective Aging And Communication

Abstract

This thesis examined the language use of young adults who may feel subjectively older as a result of experiencing negative life events (NLE). Previous research has found that experiencing NLE as a young adult can accelerate a person’s subjective age (SA). Young adults who have experienced unfortunate circumstances in their lives may feel a discrepancy between their SA and their chronological age. Due to this discrepancy, young adults who feel older may communicate differently. I predicted that young adults’ SA would have an influence on their language use. Results showed that the older young adults feel in terms of their emotional maturity and social skills, the fewer negative emotion words they use. Additionally, the older young adults feel in terms of their knowledge, the fewer first-person pronouns they use. Findings from this study reveals that feeling subjectively older has some influence on young adults’ language use when discussing their NLE.