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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Flexible and tenacious goal pursuit lead to improving well-being in an aging population
— a ten-year cohort study | | Author(s) | Rebecca E Kelly, Alex M Wood, Warren Mansell |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 25, no 1, January 2013 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, January 2013 |
| Pages | pp 16-24 |
| Source | journals.cambridge.org/ipg |
| Keywords | Middle aged ; 50-59 age group ; 60-64 age group ; Life satisfaction ; Adjustment ; Depression ; Ill health ; Well being ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | Tenacious goal pursuit (TGP) involves striving for goals with commitment and determination, modifying the environment if necessary in order to achieve those goals, whereas flexible goal adjustment (FGA) involves pursuing goals with flexibility, adjusting to constraints and modifying goals where there are obstacles. Previous research has shown that tendencies to tenaciously pursue goals and flexibly adapt goals independently relate to well-being in adults in mid-to-late life, but research has not tested whether these tendencies interact. For example, tenacity may only predict well-being in combination with flexibility. This research tests whether these tendencies interact to predict changes in health-related outcomes. A large cohort of 5,666 people, initially aged 55-56 years, completed measures of flexibility, tenacity, health-related outcomes (physical health, depression, hostility), as well as demographics. Participants provided follow-up data on all measures ten years later. Moderation analysis was used to test whether flexibility and tenacity interacted to predict changes in the health-related outcomes over the period. Results showed that the interaction between tenacity and flexibility significantly predicted changes in depression, hostility and physical ill-health symptoms over ten years, such that highly flexible and tenacious individuals experienced the largest decreases in symptoms of depression, hostility and physical ill-health. The interaction between flexibility and tenacity predicts greater well-being, such that one is most protective when an individual also scores highly on the other. The combination of flexibility and tenacity in the pursuit of personal goals may mean individuals can enjoy gains associated with goal pursuit without the detrimental effects of persevering in blocked goals. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-121221259 A |
| Classmark | SE: BBB: BBC: F:5HH: DR: ENR: CH: D:F:5HH: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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