This review addresses conceptual and empirical research about how individual agency and motivation influences development during adulthood and old age. The major life-span approaches to individual ...agency and developmental regulation are discussed, with a focus on the motivational theory of life-span development. Developmental agency unfolds through action cycles of pursuing long-term goals for optimal development. Individuals differ in their capacity to regulate their goal engagements effectively within the age-graded structure of opportunities and constraints in their life courses. We discuss a set of research examples about specific developmental challenges, such as transition to adulthood, biological aging, illness, and societal transformation, and show how individuals, as agents in their own development, navigate change for better or worse. We conclude with suggestions for future research.
This article had four goals. First, the authors identified a set of general challenges and questions that a life-span theory of development should address. Second, they presented a comprehensive ...account of their Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development. They integrated the model of optimization in primary and secondary control and the action-phase model of developmental regulation with their original life-span theory of control to present a comprehensive theory of development. Third, they reviewed the relevant empirical literature testing key propositions of the Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development. Finally, because the conceptual reach of their theory goes far beyond the current empirical base, they pointed out areas that deserve further and more focused empirical inquiry.
This study examined whether self-compassion could benefit daily physical symptoms and chronic illness in early and advanced old age. The hypotheses were evaluated in a 4-year longitudinal study of ...264 older adults. Results showed that self-compassion predicted lower levels of daily physical symptoms across the study period in advanced, but not early, old age (T-ratio = −1.93, p = 0.05). In addition, self-compassion was associated with fewer increases in chronic illness in advanced, but not early, old age (T-ratio = − 2.45, p < 0.02). The results of this study suggest that self-compassion may be particularly adaptive towards the end of life.
Objectives
This meta‐analysis quantified associations between goal disengagement and goal reengagement capacities with individuals' quality of life (i.e., well‐being and health).
Methods
Effect sizes ...(Fisher's Z′; N = 421) from 31 samples were coded on several characteristics (e.g., goal adjustment capacity, quality of life type/subtype, age, and depression risk status) and analyzed using meta‐analytic random effects models.
Results
Goal disengagement (r = 0.08, p < 0.01) and goal reengagement (r = 0.19, p < 0.01) were associated with greater quality of life. While goal disengagement more strongly predicted negative (r = −0.12, p < 0.01) versus positive (r = 0.02, p = 0.37) indicators of well‐being, goal reengagement was similarly associated with both (positive: r = 0.24, p < 0.01; negative: r = −0.17, p < 0.01). Finally, the association between goal disengagement and lower depressive symptoms (r = −0.11, p < 0.01) was reversed in samples at‐risk for depression (r = 0.08, p = 0.01), and goal disengagement more strongly predicted quality of life in older samples (B = 0.003, p < 0.01).
Conclusions
These findings support theory on the self‐regulatory functions of individuals' capacities to adjust to unattainable goals, document their distinct benefits, and identify key moderating factors.
Objectives: This study examined whether levels of chronic illness predict enhanced feelings of loneliness in older adulthood. In addition, it investigated whether engagement in health-related ...self-protection (e.g., positive reappraisals), but not in health engagement control strategies (e.g., investment of time and effort), would buffer the adverse effect of chronic illness on older adults' feelings of loneliness. Method: Loneliness was examined repeatedly in 2-year intervals over 8 years in a longitudinal study of 121 community-dwelling older adults (Time 1 age = 64 to 83 years). In addition, levels of chronic illness, health-related control strategies, and sociodemographic variables were assessed at baseline. Results: Growth-curve models showed that loneliness linearly increased over time and that this effect was observed only among participants who reported high, but not low, baseline levels of chronic illness. In addition, health-related self-protection, but not health engagement control strategies, buffered the adverse effect of chronic illness on increases in loneliness. Conclusions: Loneliness increases in older adulthood as a function of chronic illness. Older adults who engage in self-protective strategies to cope with their health threats might be protected from experiencing this adverse effect.
Background: Older adults often experience an increase in low-grade chronic inflammation. Purpose in life could act as a protective factor as it is associated with beneficial health outcomes. Purpose ...in life may exert part of its adaptive function by promoting persistence in goal pursuit. During older adulthood, however, when many individuals experience an increase in intractable stressors and declining resources, the adaptive function of purpose could become reduced. Purpose: We examined whether the association between inter- and intra-individual differences in purpose in life and chronic inflammation differed across older adulthood. Method: We assessed four waves of data among 129 older adults (63–91 years old) across 6 years. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated that within-person increases in purpose in life predicted reduced levels of chronic inflammation in early old age (25th percentile or 73 years, coefficient = −.016, p < .01), but not in advanced old age (75th percentile or 81 years, coefficient = .002, p = .67). Between-person differences in purpose were not related to chronic inflammation. Conclusions: These results suggest that greater within-person increases in purpose may protect health processes particularly in early old age but become less effective in advanced old age.
Stressful experiences may elicit hyper- and hypo-secretion of cortisol, which both can compromise quality of life. Psychological factors that are useful for managing stress experiences may ameliorate ...such patterns of dysregulation and protect quality of life. It is examined how stress experiences and psychological factors can shape cortisol dysregulation during older adulthood.
Data from a 12-year longitudinal study of older adults were analyzed (Montreal Aging and Health Study; N = 215). Participants were assessed every 2 years. Measures included stress experiences, cortisol output, psychological factors (e.g., control strategies or self-compassion), and indicators of quality of life (e.g., well-being and health). Analyses were performed using hierarchical regression analyses and multi-level modeling.
Higher, as compared to lower, levels of stress perceptions were associated with increased cortisol output (AUC) at the beginning of the study, but predicted relatively reduced cortisol output after 12 years. In addition, high and increasing stress perceptions predicted a flattening of cortisol slopes over 12 years. In terms of psychological factors, the use of control strategies, self-compassion, and self-esteem modulated cortisol output during the study period.
Stressful experiences can be associated with a complex pattern of cortisol dysregulation in older adulthood, changing from hyper- to hypo-secretion of cortisol as stress experiences remain high or increase over longer periods of time. Psychological responses to stress may modulate this pattern and could play an important role in maintaining older adults’ quality of life. Implications for studying cortisol regulation and stress management in older adulthood are discussed.
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