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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Wisdom and life satisfaction in old age | | Author(s) | Monika Ardelt |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 52B, no 1, January 1997 |
| Pages | pp P15-P27 |
| Keywords | Mental health [elderly] ; Personality ; Life satisfaction ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | According to previous research findings, objective life conditions such as physical health, socioeconomic status, financial situation, the physical environment, and social involvement cannot fully explain the well-being of older people. Instead, personality characteristics and developmental influences appear to have a stronger impact. This study combines personality and individual development by introducing the ancient but neglected concept of wisdom as a predictor of life satisfaction. Using a sample of 120 older women and men from the 1968/69 Berkeley Guidance Study, structural equation models with latent variables show that wisdom (defined as a composite of cognitive, reflective, and affective qualities) has a profoundly positive influence on life satisfaction independent of objective circumstances. The inclusion of wisdom as an additional predictor of subjective well-being increases the explanatory power of the model considerably. Gender differences in predictors of life satisfaction are discussed. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980227006 A |
| Classmark | D: DK: F:5HH: 3F: 7T |
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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