Elderly people may be more able to control negative emotions like anger or anxiety.

The study found that the elderly are less likely than younger adults to feel angry or anxious in their daily lives, even when they are asked to carry out a stressful task.

In addition, older people had higher scores on a test designed to measure mood accepted that negative emotions. The researchers call this feature "acceptance", or a tendency to live with, rather than avoid, negative emotions.

These results help explain a paradox that has been seen in many other studies, is that, Despite the decline in physical and mental health, the elderly are happier than young adults or middle-aged.

Researchers do not know why the ability to accept negative emotions improves with age, but one idea is that, as people age, they find that there are many things in life that are beyond your control, such as illness or death of loved ones. This life experience teaches that it is useless to try to control such events and that some things simply have to accept them as they come.
