Self-Regulation and Eudaimonic Well-Being Across Adulthood

• Published in: Experimental aging research 2012-07, Vol.38 (4), p.394-410
• Main Authors: Frazier, Leslie D., Barreto, Michelle L., Newman, Frederick L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment; Adolescent; Adult; Adult. Elderly; Age differences; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Developmental psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Goals; Humans; Male; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Optimization; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self control; Social Adjustment; Social Control, Informal; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0361-073X; 1096-4657
• DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2012.699367

Background/Study Context: The authors developed and tested a model to examine the developmental self-regulatory pathways that lead to optimal eudaimonic well-being across adulthood. Methods: Measures of goal adjustment, optimization, possible selves, and well-being were obtained from 590 adults ranging in age from 17 to 94. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the whether there were age-differential pathways among the developmental self-regulatory processes and well-being. Results: The model predicts interactions among age, hoped-for possible selves, age-sensitive developmental processes (i.e., goal adjustment, optimization), and psychological well-being. Results showed direct effects of goal adjustment on well-being and indirect effects of goal adjustment and optimization on well-being through hoped-for possible selves. There were significant age differences in the indirect effects of goal adjustment on possible selves and well-being, such that, by age 55, these pathways disappear, and the role of future self-representations diminish. Conclusions: Findings indicate that the role of possible selves in regulating self-motivated development changes across the adult life span.