Work

Life satisfaction across adulthood: different determinants at different ages?

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: It is likely that with aging and changing life circumstances, individuals' values shift in systematic ways, and that these shifts may be accompanied by shifts in the determinants of their subjective judgments of well being. To examine this possibility, the relations among the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and a number of personality, affect, demographic, and cognitive variables were examined in a sample of 818 participants between the ages of 18 and 94. The results indicated that although many variables had significant zero-order correlations with the SWLS, only a few variables had unique utility in predicting life satisfaction. Invariance analyses indicated that while the qualitative nature of life satisfaction remains constant across adult age, the influence of fluid intelligence on judgments of life satisfaction declines with age. In contrast, negative affect is negatively associated with life satisfaction consistently across the adult age span.

Source: The Journal of Positive Psychology

DOI: 10.1080/17439760701834602

Authors: Karen L. Siedlecki, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob, Shigehiro Oishi, Timothy A. Salthouse

Institution: University of Virginia

Language: English

Topic: Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health