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Ambitions Fulfilled? The Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goal Attainment on Older Adults' Ego-Integrity and Death Attitudes
Abstract and Figures
The present research examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults' ego-integrity, psychological well-being, and death attitudes. Hypotheses were derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Vansteenkiste, Ryan, & Deci, in press). Study 1 (N = 202, Mean age = 68.2 years) indicated that, after controlling for extrinsic goal attainment, intrinsic goal attainment contributed positively to subjective well-being and ego-integrity and negatively to despair, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was unrelated to psychological health and contributed positively to despair. Study 2 (N = 213, Mean age = 75.2 years) replicated and extended these results, showing that intrinsic goal attainment contributed to the acceptance of one's own death, lower ill-being, and less death anxiety, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was negatively associated with death acceptance. It is argued that the attainment of intrinsic goals is related to better psychological health, because intrinsic goals are more conducive to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.
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... These studies converge with other findings showing that autonomous and self-determined orientations help to reduce death-related anxiety and concerns. For instance, older adults who have achieved more intrinsic goals over the course of their lives report more death acceptance and lower death anxiety (Van Hiel & Vansteenkiste, 2009). Thus, autonomy/self-determination appears to support terror management and buffers against death-related concerns. ...
... Previous research has shown that feelings of personal volition, choice, and self-authorship in one's life-i.e., autonomy/self-determination-help to defend against deathrelated concerns and seem to alleviate the need for defensive strivings for symbolic immortality (e.g., Vail et al., 2020;Van Hiel & Vansteenkiste, 2009). However, the specific relationship between autonomy and perceptions of symbolic immortality had previously only been addressed in two correlational studies, which found that autonomous functioning is associated with greater extent of belief in symbolic immortality, which in turn predicts higher meaning in life (Horner et al., 2021a). ...
This pre-registered work was designed to replicate and extend previous research finding that autonomy is associated with greater extent of belief in symbolic immortality (feeling that some aspect of an individual will endure and/or be remembered long after death). Study 1 (n = 1185) replicated this prior work, finding that self-reported autonomy predicted extent of belief in symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between autonomy and meaning in life. Study 2 (n = 117) provided an experimental extension of Study 1, finding that reading about an individual with an autonomous (vs. controlled) life increased perceptions of that individual’s symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between reading about the autonomous life and perceptions of the individual’s satisfaction with life. Study 3 (n = 175) replicated the results of Study 2 and also showed that the extent to which people viewed the target individual as feeling autonomous predicted perceptions of that individual’s symbolic immortality even after controlling for perceived self-esteem.
... To assess experiences of integrity and despair, the shortened version of Van Hiel and Vansteenkiste's validated Dutch questionnaire [76] was used with four (integrity) and five (despair) items, ranged on a 4-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 4 (totally agree). The subscale of integrity contains four items, such as "I can accept the bad moments of my past life" and "I can give negative past experiences a place in my life". ...
... Further, with regard to the relationship between experiences of integrity and despair and depressive symptoms, our findings are confirmed by other studies. Similar to previous research, integrity is negatively related to depressive symptoms, and despair is positively related to depressive symptoms [69,71,72,76]. In other words, the general trends in previous research on the relationship between positive/negative religious coping or integrity/despair and depressive symptoms are reaffirmed in this study with geriatric inpatients. ...
Older persons are often confronted with challenging events in their lives. Religion can offer them a way to deal with these challenges. The study of religious coping styles helps us to understand how people find support in their religion or wrestle with aspects of their religion when they are confronted with difficulties. Especially when older adults face illness and hospitalization, religious coping styles might be triggered. Despite the fact that the public role of religion, especially Christianity, is diminishing in West European societies, a large group of Belgian geriatric patients call themselves religious. Previous studies have shown that there is a link between positive/negative religious coping styles and the depressive symptoms that often occur in older adults. More recently, some scholars have emphasized that this relationship is more complex. Therefore, this paper investigates the role of one possible underlying mechanism between positive/negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms in geriatric patients, namely the developmental process of integrity and despair as two factors within this mechanism. One hundred thirty-nine geriatric inpatients from three hospitals in Belgium who reported to feel religiously affiliated were involved in this study. Our results indicate that experiences of integrity and despair function as an explanatory pathway in the relationship between negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms. Further, a direct link was found between both when accounting for experiences of integrity and despair. For positive religious coping styles, no direct or indirect relationship with depressive symptoms was found. In healthcare, geriatric caregivers need to be aware of the interaction between positive and negative religious coping styles, the developmental process of integrity and despair, and depressive symptoms.
... Although acceptance of death and dying is associated with beneficial outcomes and is regarded as integral to the successful delivery of PC and enhancement of QoL (Zimmermann, 2012), there is limited empirical evidence showing how this psychological protective factor can be fostered in palliative patients. However, studies have shown associations between greater death acceptance and resources such as increased ego-integrity, intrinsic goal attainment, social connectedness, and religiosity (van der Kaap-Deeder et al., 2020;Van Hiel & Vansteenkiste, 2009). Therapeutic approaches utilised with palliative patients to increase life meaning such as Dignity Therapy, Meaning Centred Psychotherapy, and Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully have however delivered mixed results (Johnson, 2018). ...
Elevated psychosocial distress, pain and existential dread are prevalent among those living with a palliative illness with consequential negative impacts on quality of life (QoL). Psychological flexibility (PF) is a protective factor related to better psychosocial outcomes in various adverse health contexts. This study tests the applicability of the PF framework in accounting for variability in four palliative patient outcomes (death attitudes, distress, pain and QoL) and the stability of these variables over one month. Fifty-four palliative patients and 21 of their carers completed a questionnaire at Time 1 and one month later (Time 2). Informal carers provided proxy ratings of the patient's QoL. Results indicated no change in PF or patient outcomes, and that higher Time 1 total PF significantly predicted better Time 2 outcomes across QoL, distress, and death attitudes. The acceptance PF dimension evidenced the strongest beneficial associations, whereas unexpectedly the values-based action PF dimension predicted higher death escape attitudes, and the mindfulness PF dimension failed to predict any outcome, although at the bivariate level it was related to better outcomes across QoL, death attitudes and distress. Unexpectedly, the values-based action PF dimension was correlated with worse pain outcomes. Overall, these findings support the role of PF in improving palliative patient outcomes, and prior calls for the evaluation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which targets PF, in palliative care. The unexpected findings regarding the two PF dimensions of mindfulness and values-based action, suggest that these PF processes need further investigation and require fine tuning in ACT interventions to ensure sensitivity to the palliative care context. These findings are currently being utilised to inform the development and evaluation of a self-help ACT resource for palliative patients.
... Based on Bolino and Turnley [83], from the perspective of psychological costs of prosocial motivation, Grant [54] found that when individuals expend additional effort at work to fulfill their motivation to help others, they can experience work overload and increased levels of stress, which is also suggested by Vansteenkiste et al. [84]. Since prosocial motivation is a stable personality trait [11,50,51], the prosocial individuals (e.g., social entrepreneurs) tend to suffer high-level pressures frequently [85], which in turn can decrease their job satisfaction [86,87]. ...
Why does social entrepreneurship tend to live so shortly? A range of studies tried to answer this question, although very few delved into the “inner layer” (psychological status) to unveil how social entrepreneurs decide to quit. Accordingly, focusing on prosocial motivation of social entrepreneurs and its impact on their work-related wellbeing and then their business exit intention, we conducted this empirical research. Furthermore, gender differences are involved based on relevant calls for in-depth investigation. With a sample of 301 respondents in China, deploying the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), we found prosocial motivation decreases entrepreneurs’ work-related wellbeing, which in turn, increases entrepreneurial exit intention. Furthermore, adopting the multi-group analysis (MGA) technique, we uncovered that the impact of prosocial motivation on work-related wellbeing largely is stronger for males. Our research thus contributes to the growing research and knowledge on social entrepreneurship in terms of individual personality traits and how they impact a social entrepreneur’s psychological status and thus their intention of exiting the social business. This study’s further theoretical and practical implications, as well as its limitations and thus future research directions, are discussed at the end.
... To assess ill-being, participants filled out a 6-item version (Van Hiel & Vansteenkiste, 2009) of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D: Radloff, 1977) (e.g., "I could not get going") and one item (e.g., "I felt sleepy, drowsy or dull") of the Insomnia subscale of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS; Watson et al., 2007). Items were scored on a 4-point Likert scale going from 1 (rarely or never) to 4 (usually or constantly). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a threat not only to individuals’ physical health but also to their mental health. Self-Determination Theory assumes that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence promotes psychological well-being during destabilizing times. Yet, the pandemic seriously hampered individuals’ opportunities to satisfy their needs. The current study provides a preliminary test of the effectiveness of a 7-session online program, LifeCraft, that promotes individuals’ proactive attempts to uplift their need-based experiences (i.e., need crafting). Next to the effects on individuals’ need crafting skills, we examined program-effects on adults’ need-based experiences and mental health and we explored the role of participants’ program engagement. An experimental study among 725 Belgian adults [Mage = 51.67 (range = 26 – 85); 68.55% female] was conducted, with an experimental condition of 252 and a control condition of 473 participants. At the level of the entire sample, there was limited evidence for the effectiveness of the program. There were only small immediate program-effects on need crafting and well-being. After taking into account the role of program engagement, findings showed that the program was more beneficial for participants who actively participated, with these participants reporting immediate and stable increases in need crafting, need satisfaction and well-being and decreases in need frustration. Further, changes in need crafting fully mediated changes in need-based experiences and well-being. To conclude, the findings provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of LifeCraft during the COVID-19 pandemic, with active participation being a prerequisite for the program to be effective.
This pre-registered study was conducted online in March 2022 and was designed to (1) test whether individuals who identify as transgender report greater death-thought accessibility (DTA), greater symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS), lower meaning in life (MIL), and greater existential isolation (EI) compared to those who do not identify as transgender (i.e., cisgender); (2) examine whether autonomy support and autonomy frustration for gender expression differentially predict these outcomes among transgender individuals; and (3) examine whether perceptions of symbolic immortality mediate these relationships. Results found that transgender (vs. cisgender) participants reported higher DTA, greater PTS, lower MIL, and greater EI. Moreover, among transgender participants, autonomy frustration for gender expression predicted greater PTS, and autonomy support for gender expression predicted both greater MIL and lower EI. Finally, although the indirect effects through symbolic immortality were nonsignificant, autonomy support for gender expression appeared to predict perceptions of symbolic immortality. Implications for transgender people’s mental health and future research directions are discussed.
During the initial outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many countries imposed a total lockdown (containment at home). Although it was still allowed in Belgium to be physically active or exercise with people from your household in the vicinity of your home, engaging in sports or physical activity in a group or club context was no longer permitted. To examine whether a lack of physical activity was potentially threatening to the mental well-being of citizens and vice versa, the present study examined concurrent and reciprocal relationships between physical activity and anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality during the COVID-19 lockdown in a 9-week longitudinal design. In a sample of 983 Belgian adults (75.1% female; Mage = 43.78, range = 18–82 years), we explored these relationships at both the between- and within-person levels through random intercept cross-lagged panel models. The findings indicate that more physical activity was associated with lower symptoms of anxiety and depression and better sleep quality, a finding observed both at the between-person (across weeks; βanxiety = −.25, βdepression = −0.30, βsleep quality = .24, p < .001) and within-person level (within weeks; βanxiety = −0.10, βdepression = −0.14, βsleep quality = .11, p < .05). Moreover, at the within-person level, an increase in feelings of anxiety and depression at one moment predicted lower levels of physical activity one week later (βanxiety = −0.04, βdepression = −0.06, p < .05). Since poor mental health poses a threat to the maintenance of physical activity, the current findings suggest that it is critical to invest in the mental health of individuals during distressing times.
The COVID-19 pandemic elicited a lot of concerns among citizens, thereby potentially compromising their well-being. This study sought to examine the role of individuals' emotion regulation styles (i.e., emotional dysregulation, emotional suppression, and emotional integration) in handling these concerns and their experiences of well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life and sleep quality) and ill-being (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms). The study had a unique 10-wave longitudinal design (N = 986; Mage = 41.28; 76% female) and was conducted during the outbreak of the pandemic in March-May 2020. Multilevel analyses showed, first, that weekly variation in COVID-19 related concerns related negatively to weekly variation in well-being and positively to weekly variation in ill-being. Second, at the between-person level, emotional dysregulation and suppression related positively to between-person vulnerability in ill-being and lower well-being (across all waves). Third, between-person differences in emotional dysregulation amplified the strength of the within-person association between concerns and depressive complaints and lowered life satisfaction. Unexpectedly, integrative emotion regulation amplified the strength of the within-person association between concerns and anxiety. The discussion focuses on the critical role of emotion regulation in handling the uncertainty elicited by the pandemic and provides directions for further research. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Objectives:
A characteristic task in aging is the process of reevaluating and reflecting on one's life in order to give it meaning. The successful resolution of this task is defined as ego-integrity, and it is related to various psychological phenomena that foster the person's adaptation to change. The objective was to adapt an ego-integrity scale in a sample of older adults and study the relationships between emotional intelligence, coping strategies, and mood to find out whether they are predictors of ego-integrity.
Methods:
The sample included 401 healthy older adults (241 women; ages 65-95, M = 73.69, SD = 6.83). Statistical analyses included structural equation models. Northwestern Ego-integrity Scale 9-item was tested showing that a structure with two unrelated factors fitted the data well. The internal consistency was satisfactory (.82 integrity and .72 despair).
Results:
Emotional intelligence positively predicted problem-focused adaptive coping strategies (problem solving and positive reassessment) and negatively predicted state of mind (depression and hopelessness), whereas adaptive coping positively predicted integrity, and mood predicted it negatively.
Conclusion:
Emotional intelligence skills, adaptive coping strategies, and mood largely determine the successful resolution of the ego integrity conflict and are relevant resources in successful aging.
This paper presents a theory of potentially universal aspects in the content of human values. Ten types of values are distinguished by their motivational goals. The theory also postulates a structure of relations among the value types, based on the conflicts and compatibilities experienced when pursuing them. This structure permits one to relate systems of value priorities, as an integrated whole, to other variables. A new values instrument, based on the theory and suitable for cross-cultural research, is described. Evidence relevant for assessing the theory, from 97 samples in 44 countries, is summarized. Relations of this approach to Rokeach's work on values and to other theories and research on value dimensions are discussed. Application of the approach to social issues is exemplified in the domains of politics and intergroup relations.
In the 50 years of research in death attitudes, clear gains have been made in the measurement of death concerns and competencies, leading to the development and validation of several scales whose more extensive use could improve the conceptual yield of research in this area. In this article, we review these promising instruments, focusing on nine general questionnaires for measuring death anxiety, fear, threat, depression, and acceptance, and four specialized measures of death self-efficacy and coping, readiness for death, and desire for hastened death. We also offer an orientation to non-questionnaire based techniques for the assessment of death attitudes (e.g., narrative measures, repertory grids, behavioral observations, death personifications and drawings), and close with a note on international developments that hold promise for improved cultural awareness of the role of death attitudes in human life.