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The Sense of Control in Midlife
Abstract
This chapter explains the sense of control in midlife. The chapter states that midlife is paradoxically a period in which individuals have many goals, roles, and responsibilities besides stress and lack of time for leisure. They also experience a peak in personal control and power. In midlife, adults may begin to recognize more external sources of control and adopt more accommodative (or secondary) control strategies, while maintaining their own sense of internal control and efficacy. To achieve a balanced mental state and attitude during midlife, when roles, goals, responsibilities, and stress tend to peak, individuals must believe in their own competence and effectiveness, and also be aware of their limitations and the influences of outside factors. According to the chapter, to understand individuals' sense of control in middle adulthood, one must study their sense of control within the context of the entire lifespan, as well as within the social and historical context.
... Some theoretical views and empirical evidence suggests that there are. Generally speaking, theories of the life cycle support the view that midlife is a time of increased power, influence, and control for many people (Mirowsky and Ross 1992;Clark-Plaskie and Lachman 1999). However, research also documents that adults in later life experience a lower sense of control compared with younger counterparts (Mirowsky and Ross 1999a;Schieman and Turner 1998;Mirowsky 1995;Lachman 1986;Rodin 1986). ...
... Gecas (1989) asserts that most cross-sectional analyses of different age groups document a curvilinear pattern such that the sense of control (or "self-efficacy") increases through early adulthood, peaks during middle age, and then becomes lower among successively older age groups. However, a recent literature review shows mixed evidence about levels of perceived control at different parts of the life course (Clark-Plaskie and Lachman 1999). For example, cross-sectional studies document an increase in average internal control across adolescence into young adulthood and midlife. ...
... For example, cross-sectional studies document an increase in average internal control across adolescence into young adulthood and midlife. Some longitudinal work also confirms that general pattern (Clark-Plaskie and Lachman 1999). ...
Recent U.S. surveys indicate that older people report a lower sense of control. Moreover, education and impairment explain some of that association. What explains the rest? The author proposes that education, marital and employment statuses, health, financial satisfaction, and religious involvement influence the age differences in control. Using data from a 1996 sample of 1,421 U.S. residents, the author documents an inverted U-shaped association between age and control. Lower education and higher rates of widowhood and retirement account for about 67 percent of older adults’ lower control. Greater financial satisfaction and religious involvement suppresses part of that effect. Similarly, education, marital status, and employment status explain about 54 percent of the linear age effect. Were it not for lower financial satisfaction and declining self-reported health during young and middle adulthood, the age effect would be even stronger. Results support the Cumulative Advantage hypothesis: Education buffers against erosion in control during the later years.
... For example, age-related increases exist for overall control over work, control over finances, and control over marriage, whereas decreases exist for control over relationships with chil-dren, and control over one's sex life (Lachman & Weaver, 1998). Results from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on domain-specific control beliefs in the domains of health and intellectual functioning suggest stable internal control beliefs and increasing external control beliefs as people age, while no consistent relationship with gender has been reported (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999;Lachman, Ziff, & Spiro, 1994). ...
... The selected rotation method of the factors does not assume complete independence between the factors; rather, it allows one to examine the correlations between the factors. Based on findings from other studies (Lachman, Ziff, & Spiro, 1994;Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999) and theoretical assumptions behind the scale construction, we expected the two External Control scales to be related, but neither ECC nor ECPO to be positively related to IC. There was no significant correlation between ECPO and the IC, r (ECPO ϫ IC) = .00, ...
... With regard to the second goal of our study, results from Sample B revealed age correlations in accordance with our theoretical assumptions, i.e., both External Control subscales were positively related to age, whereas Internal Control was not. That is, housing-related control beliefs seem to behave in their age-related variation similar to those concerned with other life domains such as health or intellectual control (e.g., Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999;Lachman, & Weaver, 1998;Lachman, Ziff, & Spiro, 1994). As was also expected, the relation with gender was generally weak, but both higher education and income were related to lower external housing-related control beliefs. ...
Abstract Both a life-span developmental control perspective as well as an environmental gerontology view, particularly Lawton’s notion of environmentalproactivity, served as the theoretical background to suggest a new dimension of domain-specific, namely housing-related control beliefs. The newly developed 23-item Housing-related Control Beliefs Questionnaire (HCQ) is based on the widely used dimensions of Internal Control, External Control: Powerful Others, and External Control: Chance. In two studies using a sample N= 485 (66-69 years) and a sample of N= 107 older adults (65-91 years), we examined the psychometric quality of the questionnaire as well explored its relation with socio- structural variables, general control beliefs, and a set of housing-related aspects. Psychometric results indicate satisfactory levels of internal consistency and retest stability in all three scales of the instrument and factor analysis supported the theoretically expected three-factor solution. Also, HCQ’s
... Control is associated with decreased reactivity to stressors (Ong, Bergeman, & Bisconti, 2005) and therefore should be considered within the context of emotional and physical reactivity. Furthermore, stressor domains may vary in their salience across adulthood (e.g., Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999), so the emotional and physical impact of those stressors could be associated with age. For example, older age has been associated with decreased emotional reactivity to interpersonal stressors ( Birditt et al., 2005), and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1980, 2000 suggests that older adults are able to pursue their valued outcomes (e.g., maintaining interpersonal relationships) even when faced with constraints. ...
... Work-related stressors are also an important domain because they are linked with increased health problems (e.g., Chandola, Brunner, & Marmot, 2006) and poorer emotional health (e.g., Pflanz & Sonnek, 2002). The importance of the work domain typically increases in midlife, especially for men (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Therefore, this domain is particularly important to examine from an adult life-span perspective because of the shift in saliency in work that often accompanies aging; that is, work stressors could be particularly detrimental for people in midlife. ...
... For example, as younger adults are striving toward goals in their work lives, a sense of mastery may be particularly important. Because midlife represents a time where work status and expertise may be at its peak (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999) and differences in sense of control within the work domain exist between young and middle-aged adults as a function of progress along the career path at different stages in the life course (Heise, 1990), we examined whether control beliefs would be particularly important for middle-aged adults' well-being in response to work stressors. On the basis of prior research findings and socioemotional selectivity theory that younger adults who are invested in establishing interpersonal relationships more often employ active problem-solving strategies to their daily interpersonal problems than older adults do, we predicted that perceived control (both constraints and mastery) would have a stronger relationship with well-being (both emotional and physical) among younger adults than among older adults. ...
We examined age and control belief differences in physical and emotional reactivity to daily stressors in four domains: interpersonal,
work, network, and home. We combined data from the National Study of Daily Experiences and the Midlife in the United States
survey, resulting in 1,031 participants who reported on 7,229 days. Findings from multilevel models suggest that age and control
beliefs play an important role in a person's reactivity to interpersonal, network, and work stressors. Specifically, older
age and lower perceived constraints were each related to lower emotional and physical reactivity to interpersonal stressors.
High mastery buffered the physical effects of work stressors for younger and older adults, and high mastery was important
for middle-aged adults' emotional reactivity to network stressors. High constraint was associated with the strongest physical
reactivity to network stressors for younger and older adults.
... dren, and control over one's sex life (Lachman & Weaver, 1998). Results from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on domain-specific control beliefs in the domains of health and intellectual functioning suggest stable internal control beliefs and increasing external control beliefs as people age, while no consistent relationship with gender has been reported (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999; Lachman, Ziff, & Spiro, 1994). ...
... Based on findings from other studies (Lachman, Ziff, & Spiro, 1994; Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999) and theoretical assumptions behind the scale construction, we expected the two External Control scales to be related, but neither ECC nor ECPO to be positively related to IC. ...
Über die Lebensspanne wirken sich unterschiedliche Umweltkontexte mittel- und langfristig auf Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden
aus. Welche Alltagskontexte sich auf verschiedene Aspekte von Alltagsanforderungen auswirken ist jedoch bisher kaum untersucht.
In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wurden daher mit Hilfe einer telefonischen Erhebung an einer Stichprobe von 365 Personen
zwischen 51 und 80 Jahren (a) Altersunterschiede in den bestehenden Alltagsanforderungen, (b) die Zusammenhänge zwischen verschiedenen
Aspekten selbstberichteter Anforderungen und (c) die Zusammenhangsmuster zwischen alltäglichen Anforderungen einerseits und
bedeutsamen Alltagskontexten andererseits verglichen. Die Ergebnisse belegen eine alterskorrelierte Verringerung von Alltagsanforderungen,
Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Aspekten von Alltagsanforderungen und Hinweise auf eine sich alterskorreliert verändernde
Zusammenhangsstruktur mit den bestehenden Anforderungen in wichtigen Alltagskontexten.
Across the lifespan, different environmental contexts may, in the long term, affect health and well-being. Exactly which
contextual demands translate into different aspects of self-reported everyday demands has hardly been examined. In this telephone-based
study with 365 adults between 51 and 80 years, we assessed (a) age differences in the existing everyday demands, (b) relations
between different measures of everyday demands, and (c) the correlational patterns between measures of everyday contexts and
everyday demands. Results demonstrate age effects in all measures of everyday demands, and differences between measures. The
findings suggest age-related differences in the correlational patterns between specific everyday contexts and the levels of
everyday demands.
... In this set of analyses, daily stressor was an index of any of the seven types of stressful events (e.g., arguments or disagreements, avoided arguments and tensions, home-related, discrimination) experienced on a study day. In line with the work of Clark-Plaskie, & Lachman (1999) , who found that the salience of stressor domains may vary across adulthood, we were interested in whether a specifi c stressor domain (e.g., arguments or disagreements , home) may better explain the observed association. We carried out a similar set of analyses as previously for each type of stressful event. ...
... This fi nding highlights the impacts and disruptions that daily stressors have on one ' s life ( Almeida, 2005 ; Bolger et al., 1989 ) and illustrates how daily stressors can pile up and result in behavioral reactions even the day after experiencing the stressful events ( Lazarus, 1999 ; Zautra, 2003 ). Our stressor reactivity fi ndings also indicate that the salience of stressor domains may operate differently depending on individuals ' resources ( Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999 ). In our study, we found that of the seven domains of stressful events (e.g., arguments or disagreements, network stressors), only home stressful events were associated with daily household chore participation at a trend level. ...
Purpose of the study:
This study examines how employment status (worker vs. retiree) and life course influences (age, gender, and marital status) are associated with time spent on daily household chores. Second, this study assesses whether the associations between daily stressors and time spent on daily household chores differ as a function of employment status and life course influences.
Design and methods:
Men and women aged 55-74 from the National Study of Daily Experiences (N = 268; 133 workers and 135 retirees), a part of the National Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), completed telephone interviews regarding their daily experiences across 8 consecutive evenings.
Results:
Working women spent more than double the amount of time on daily household chores than working men. Unmarried retirees spent the most time on daily household chores in comparison to their counterparts. There was a trend toward significance for the association between home stressors from the previous day and time spent on daily household chores as a function of employment and marital status.
Implications:
These findings highlight the importance of gender and marital status in the associations between employment status and time spent on daily household chores and the role that daily stressors, in particular home stressful events, have on daily household chore participation.
... Rather than addressing goals and goal contents, we focus on how perceptions of internal causes for and perceived control over goal attainment correlate with subjective well-being. However, perceived control over development may not be associated in uniformly positive ways with subjective well-being throughout adulthood (e.g., Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Burger (1989) suggested that a strong sense of control may result in negative affective responses when individuals perceive (a) a great responsibility to use their potentials, (b) an urgency to be successful, and (c) a strong attentional focus toward prevention of undesirable events. ...
... Some authors have emphasized that a strong sense of control may only be adaptive when an individual has the control potential for experiencing success in life (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995). One explanation for this is that individuals who hold strong control beliefs are less flexible in adjusting their cognitive appraisals of their life situation when confronted with failures or loss (e.g., Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). This may constitute a risk factor in later life especially when there are fewer resources to exert primary control (e.g., M. M. Baltes & Lang, 1997). ...
The relationship between perceived control over development (PCD) and subjective well-being (SWB) across adulthood was examined in 3 studies. In Study 1, with 480 adults aged between 20 and 90 years, PCD was closely related to SWB. Chronological age moderated the associations between PCD and SWB beyond individual differences in health, intelligence, social support, and socioeconomic status. In the longitudinal Study 2, with 42 older adults, strong PCD was associated with increased positive affect only when desirable events had occurred previously. In Study 3, older adults experienced greater satisfaction when attributing attainment of developmental goals to their ability, whereas younger adults were more satisfied when attributing such successes to their own efforts. Findings point to adaptive adjustments of control perceptions to age-related actual control potentials across adulthood.
... For example, there has been a widespread interest in procedures to maintain a youthful appearance such as plastic surgery and Botox, as well as many types of physical exercise. In part, this emphasis may reflect the baby boomers' strong desire to take control of the aging process (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman 1999, Lachman & Firth 2004). Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that the baby boomers are a diverse group culturally and ethnically. ...
... Midlife adults reported fewer stressors over which they felt no control. In midlife, the sense of control is an important component of health and well-being (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman 1999, Lachman & Weaver 1998b). Some aspects of control show increases with age, whereas in other areas control diminishes. ...
The midlife period in the lifespan is characterized by a complex interplay of multiple roles. The goal of this chapter is to summarize research findings on the central themes and salient issues of midlife such as balancing work and family responsibilities in the midst of the physical and psychological changes associated with aging. The field of midlife development is emerging in the context of large demographic shifts in the population. A section on the phenomenology of midlife development presents images and expectations including the seemingly disparate views of midlife as a time of peak functioning and a period of crisis. Conceptual frameworks useful for studying the multiple patterns of change in midlife are presented. Findings demonstrating patterns of gains and losses are reviewed for multiple domains: cognitive functioning, personality and the self, emotions, social relationships, work, and physical health. The need for future research to illuminate and integrate the diverse aspects of midlife is highlighted.
... Older adults may feel as though they are more efficacious in some areas of life than in others, suggesting that the domain-specificity of social self-efficacy may be especially salient for them. On the other hand, the successful negotiation of the large variety of roles that middle-aged adults typically hold (e.g., worker, parent, spouse) may actually contribute to global feelings of efficacy and control (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Older adults, for whom roles begin to contract, may focus their efforts in specific domains (such as leisure or relationships) over which they may feel more efficacious. ...
... Thus, although social relations may not increase global feelings of selfefficacy among older adults, social relations may be more influential for domain-specific feelings of social self-efficacy, which in turn have a positive effect on mental health. This finding may relate to the fact that among middle-aged adults, the successful negotiation of a large variety of roles (e.g., worker, parent, and spouse) may contribute to global feelings of efficacy and control (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Thus, middle-aged adults may interpret positive interactions (in particular, with family), as an indication of such successful negotiation. ...
This study investigates general and social self-efficacy as possible mediators of the relationship between quantity and quality of social relations and depressive symptomatology. Mediation models were examined using a regionally representative sample of middle-aged (35-59) and older adults (60+). Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for age, race, sex, education, health, and family composition, revealed partial mediation for several social relations predictor variables. Whereas general self-efficacy acted as a partial mediator for only middle-aged adults, social self-efficacy was a partial mediator between social relations and depressive symptomatology only among older adults. Findings suggest that self-efficacy may function as a mechanism through which social relations influence depressive symptoms, and that the importance of this mechanism as domain-specific or domain-general may vary with age.
... It can be argued that the findings are of less importance as no conclusions on the dynamics between external and internal housingrelated control (Heckhhausen & Schulz, 1995;) can be drawn, because this study did not include data on internal housing-related control. However, earlier longitudinal research (Baltes, Freund, & Horgas, 1999; Clark-Plaskie, & Lachman, 1999) has noted that in particular external control beliefs are sensitive to age-related changes, and thus they are crucial for analyses in relation to independence in everyday life and well-being in old age. Thus, the consideration of external control addresses a major facet of the full control dynamics as people age. ...
... It can be argued that the findings are of less importance as no conclusions on the dynamics between external and internal housingrelated control (Heckhhausen & Schulz, 1995; can be drawn, because this study did not include data on internal housing-related control. However, earlier longitudinal research (Baltes, Freund, & Horgas, 1999;Clark-Plaskie, & Lachman, 1999) has noted that in particular external control beliefs are sensitive to age-related changes, and thus they are crucial for analyses in relation to independence in everyday life and well-being in old age. Thus, the consideration of external control addresses a major facet of the full control dynamics as people age. ...
Our purpose in this study was to explore relationships between aspects of objective and perceived housing in five European samples of very old adults, as well as to investigate whether cross-national comparable patterns exist.
We utilized data from the first wave of the ENABLE-AGE Survey Study. The five national samples totalled 1,918 individuals aged 75 to 89 years. Objective assessments of the home environment covered the number of environmental barriers as well as the magnitude of accessibility problems (an aspect of person-environment fit). To assess perceptions of housing, we used instruments on usability, meaning of home, and housing satisfaction. We also assessed housing-related control.
Overall, the results revealed that the magnitude of accessibility problems, rather than the number of physical environmental barriers, was associated with perceptions of activity-oriented aspects of housing. That is, very old people living in more accessible housing perceived their homes as more useful and meaningful in relation to their routines and everyday activities, and they were less dependent on external control in relation to their housing. The patterns of such relationships were similar in the five national samples.
Objective and perceived aspects of housing have to be considered in order to understand the dynamics of aging in place, and the results can be used in practice contexts that target housing for senior citizens.
... Certain domains may be more significant to a certain age group, therefore having a greater influence (be it beneficial or detrimental) on the perceived sense of control for that particular domain at different points in the life span (Lachman & Bertrand, 2001;Lachman & Firth, 2004). For example, previous research suggests that the importance of the work domain typically increases in midlife, especially for men (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Research suggests that older adults may even live longer if they are able to maintain their sense of control in the domains most salient to them (Krause & Shaw, 2000). ...
This brief review on perceived control and aging is organized according to 3 perspectives of research involving description, explanation, and modification. An extensive body of literature has utilized cross-sectional and correlational methods to describe the sociodemographic variations and outcomes associated with perceived control. This work has focused on differences in perceived control as a function of age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, and culture and has identified positive associations with many aging-related outcomes involving health and well-being. With growing evidence regarding the health benefits of perceived control in the context of a declining sense of control with aging, there has been an increased effort to uncover the mechanisms involved, with the hopes of developing methods to maintain and/or promote adaptive control beliefs throughout adulthood. Through longitudinal and experimental work, researchers are beginning to clarify the directionality and elucidate the mechanisms to explain the associations. Recent evidence from longitudinal studies shows that control beliefs have an impact on subsequent changes in health. Yet, the findings suggest that it is not a unidirectional relationship. A conceptual model suggesting an ongoing reciprocal relationship between perceived control and health and well-being is discussed. Research examining the mechanisms that link perceived control to aging-related outcomes can help to inform and to develop effective interventions that are tailored to the individual's specific barriers and goals. We consider new directions for research, including more attention to intraindividual variability and reactivity to daily challenges, such as stress, with the goal of advancing our understanding of how perceived control contributes to aging-related outcomes. More work is needed to develop strategies to enhance control beliefs in later life. Although it will not always be possible to modify control beliefs, researchers can take these beliefs into account when developing interventions. A personalized approach is recommended as a way to tailor interventions that are compatible with individuals' beliefs about control to facilitate adaptive behavior change. Conclusions focus on selected issues and considerations for future research.
... Certain domains may be more significant to a certain age group, therefore having a greater influence (be it beneficial or detrimental) on the perceived sense of control for that particular domain at different points in the life span (Lachman & Bertrand, 2001;Lachman & Firth, 2004). For example, previous research suggests that the importance of the work domain typically increases in midlife, especially for men (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Research suggests that older adults may even live longer if they are able to maintain their sense of control in the domains most salient to them (Krause & Shaw, 2000). ...
... In another paper we examined age and control belief differences in reactivity to four stressor domains (interpersonal, work, home, and social network) (Neupert, Almeida, & Charles, 2007). Stressor domains may vary in their salience across adulthood, such as work being especially important at midlife (e.g., Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Thus, reactivity to stressors of varying domains could be associated with life stage, as well as with feelings of control over one's life. ...
... Furthermore, other person-related variables are supposed to be relevant in predicting subjective well-being among rural-living older adults. Regarding psychological correlates, control beliefs (i.e., allocation of responsibilities for own actions) are among those variables that consistently have proved to be significant predictors of well-being and successful aging (Clark-Plaskie and Lachman 1999;Lachman 1986;Rotter 1966;Smith and Baltes 1999). We will especially focus on external control beliefs, that is, the perception of events being contingent on luck, chance, or fate, for two reasons. ...
The first objective of this work is to contrast objective and subjective indicators of older adults' housing situations in western and eastern German rural regions. The second objective of this study is to examine the role of housing-related variables to predict life satisfaction by simultaneously controlling for other generally acknowledged predictors. The data were gathered in two rural regions in western and eastern Germany by drawing a sample of N = 412 older adults (55-99 years old; M = 73.2 years) stratified by age and gender. All participants lived in private households. As suggested by the paradox of actual versus perceived life conditions, analysis revealed comparable levels of perceived life satisfaction in spite of significantly different objective and subjective housing-related variables to the advantage of the western region. Moreover, the central hypothesis of this work that housing-related variables explain a substantial portion of variance in life satisfaction was supported by the data.
... The argument is that control beliefs related to the regulation of person–environment exchange become increasingly important in old age. Longitudinal data show that external control beliefs are especially sensitive to age-related changes due to health and functional ability losses; thus, they are crucial in explaining age-related outcomes, such as autonomy or well-being (Baltes, Freund, & Horgas, 1999; Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). ...
Person-environment relationships become particularly important in later life. Our discussion of challenges in the assessment of experiential person-environment exchange processes is grounded on a four-domain model of perceived housing. We present empirical findings from an iterative process of instrument revision seeking optimization of both reliability and validity issues regarding control-related and meaning-oriented domains of perceived housing. Our initial reconstruction, however, was not confirmed to represent a consistent and reliable measure for the suggested dimensions of housing-related identity, privacy, and autonomy. Exploratory post-hoc analyses of the pilot pool of indicators suggests six holistic facets, such as “daily independence” “neighborhood belonging”, “mirror of self”, “continuity and remaining in place” and “being alone and at peace”. Plausible content-related interpretation and relations to major background characteristics encourage the continuous task of tailoring assessment instruments to meet the holistic character of housing experiences in later life.
... Regarding the inclusion of external control only, it should be noted that findings from longitudinal studies suggest that external control beliefs are particular sensitive to age-related changes, and thus, crucial in explaining independence in daily living and well-being in old age (e.g. Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Therefore, we believe that the sole consideration of external control, while being a limitation of our study, addresses a major facet of the full control dynamics picture as people age. ...
The aim of this article is to introduce an integrative and more comprehensive approach to understanding and measuring perceived housing in old age. First, four conceptual domains of subjective housing were introduced, based on the assumption that each of the domains brings a unique perspective to the understanding of perceived housing: housing satisfaction, usability in the home, meaning of home and housing-related control beliefs. Second, relationships between the proposed domains were empirically examined using correlative analysis, factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques. Cross-cultural similarities and differences in the observed empirical relations were then analysed across three Western European countries. Data were drawn from a sub-sample of the participants in the European ENABLE-AGE Project amounting to 1223 old adults aged 80–89 years and living alone in their private homes in Swedish, British, and German urban regions. The ENABLE-AGE data set has the advantage of containing measures related to all four domains of perceived housing which are the focus of this paper. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as well as of the SEM give empirical support for the usefulness of the theoretically proposed four component model of perceived housing. Furthermore, multi-group analysis supports the assumption of similarity of perceived housing among older people living in the different countries.
... In der Analyse der affektiven Störungen und der MD bestätigten sich die in der Li- (Simon et al., 1995;Kessler et al., 1997;Murray & Lopez, 1996), die von einem globalen Anstieg affektiver Störungen in jüngeren Geburtsjahrgängen ausgehen. Die Altersgruppenunterschiede können zumindest teilweise im Hinblick auf einen Kohorteneffekt diskutiert werden, wenn man davon ausgeht, dass jüngere Erwachsene zur heutigen Zeit stärkeren Belastungen ausgesetzt sind und damit das Risiko einer psychischen Erkrankung ansteigt (Easterlin et al., 1993;Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999;Beck, 1996;Jorm, 2000). Die höheren Raten der Vierjahres-und Punktprävalenz können zudem mit einem Alters-bzw. ...
Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt einen Überblick über Prävalenz- und Inzidenzraten psychischer Störungen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung Deutschlands unter Berücksichtigung von zwei Altersgruppen des mittleren und höheren Erwachsenenalters. Im Vordergrund stehen affektive Störungen und insbesondere die Major Depression (MD), deren Symptomatologie im Hinblick auf Altersgruppenunterschieden ausgewertet wurde. Ein Schwerpunkt der Arbeit liegt auf der Untersuchung der MD im Zusammenhang mit somatischer Komorbidität und psychosozialem Wohlbefinden in einer längsschnittlichen Analyse. Die Auswertungen basieren auf den Daten der Interdisziplinären Längsschnittstudie des Erwachsenenalters (ILSE), die als Repräsentativstudie zwei Kohorten (1930/32 und 1950/52) aus der städtischen Bevölkerung Ost- und Westdeutschlands zu zwei vier Jahre auseinanderliegenden Erhebungszeitpunkten (T1: 1993-1996 und T2: 1997-2000) untersuchte. Insgesamt konnten 448 Personen der älteren und 447 Personen der jüngeren Kohorte in die Analyse eingeschlossen werden. Psychische Störungen der Achse-I wurden standardisiert anhand des Strukturierten Klinischen Interviews für das DSM-III-R (SKID) erhoben. In der medizinischen Untersuchung wurde nach einer ausführlichen Eigen- und Familienanamnese eine allgemeine körperliche Untersuchung und Funktionsdiagnostik durchgeführt und eine Reihe von Laborparametern ermittelt. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die hohe Bedeutung psychischer Störungen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung mit einer Lebenszeitprävalenz von 25,7%. Die affektiven Störungen stellten dabei die häufigste Diagnosegruppe dar (14,5%), gefolgt von Angst- (10,1%) und Abhängigkeitsstörungen (3,8%). Der in der Literatur beschriebene Altersgruppenunterschied zuungunsten der jüngeren Kohorte ließ sich für affektive Störungen sowohl bezogen auf die Lebenszeit- (19,7% vs. 9,2%) als auch Vierjahres- (24,7% vs. 12,5%) und Punktprävalenz (2,0% vs. 0,5%) bestätigen. Altersgruppenunterschiede bezüglich der Symptomatologie einer MD ergaben sich hinsichtlich der Symptomstruktur mit vermehrter psychomotorischer Unruhe und einer geringeren Behandlungsinanspruchnahme Älterer. Eine Lifetime-MD war in der jüngeren Altersgruppe mit einer höheren Rate an somatischer Komorbidität und geringerem psychosozialem Wohlbefinden assoziiert; im Vergleich zu psychisch Gesunden waren Probanden mit manifester MD u.a. signifikant häufiger von kardiovaskulären, neurologischen, endokrinologischen und Stoffwechselerkrankungen betroffen, erlebten vermehrt chronische Schmerzen und waren hinsichtlich ihres psychosozialen Wohlbefindens deutlich beeinträchtigt. Die Ergebnisse ließen sich auch für den zweiten Messzeitpunkt bestätigen. In der Funktionsdiagnostik traten zu T1 zudem signifikant häufiger pathologische Befunde im Belastungs-EKG auf. In der älteren Jahrgangsgruppe war eine Lifetime-MD entgegen der Erwartung lediglich mit einer negativeren Bewertung des eigenen Gesundheitszustandes verbunden. Lag die depressive Episode allerdings im Katamnesezeitraum, wurden zu T2 vermehrte gesundheitliche Beeinträchtigungen, chronische Schmerzen, eine geringere Lebenszufriedenheit und ein negativeres Arzturteil im Vergleich zu psychisch stabil Gesunden beobachtet. Die Prävalenzangaben affektiver Störungen liegen in dem durch internationale Studien vorgegebenen Referenzrahmen und unterstreichen deren hohe Bedeutung in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Die beobachteten Altersgruppenunterschiede mit einer höheren Betroffenheit jüngerer Probanden lassen mit nur zwei Erhebungszeitpunkten gegenwärtig keine Unterscheidung zwischen einem Kohorten-, Alters- oder Zeiteffekt zu. Erst die geplante dritte Erhebungswelle der ILSE kann dazu wichtige Aussagen liefern. Ein Zusammenhang der MD mit Einschränkungen des psychosozialen Wohlbefindens und somatischer Komorbidität ließ sich bezüglich der Lebenszeitprävalenz ausschließlich in der jüngeren Altersgruppe beobachten. Möglicherweise verdeckt die erwartungsgemäß höhere Betroffenheit somatischer Beschwerden in der älteren Kohorte die Auswirkungen einer Depression im Sinne einer geringeren Varianz. Die depressive Episode kann zudem in der älteren Kohorte aufgrund des höheren Lebensalters weiter zurückliegen, so dass die zeitliche Nähe zum Untersuchungszeitpunkt möglicherweise geringer war.
... In any case, these results reflect a considerable discrepancy between the preferences and the actual situation of many women in middle age. As found in other studies, for a majority of these women, mid-life seemed indeed to be a period with many roles, demands, and responsibilities, but without enough time for themselves, for their own inclinations, and leisure (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). ...
The aim of this research was to shed light on the relation of social role experiences and health to well-being outcomes of 198 middle-aged (40-55 years old) Swiss women living in various familial contexts (double-track women, i.e., partnered working mothers, homemakers, single mothers, single women).
Our results revealed that the way roles were experienced was primarily a function of a specific living context and satisfying social resources. Double-track women and homemakers showed the highest social role satisfaction rates and had better health and well-being outcomes than other women. Common to all groups was a considerable difference between actual and desired role investment.
The findings are discussed in terms of a resource-oriented model of well-being.
... For mastery to have a suppression effect on the negative relationship between age and depressive symptoms, mastery must also be patterned by age such that older people report the lowest mastery. Indeed, a number of studies document that the sense of mastery increases from young adulthood to middle age and then decreases into late adulthood (Gecas, 1989;Mirowsky, 1995;Sastry & Ross, 1998;Schieman, 2001;Schieman & Turner, 1998; but see Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999). Like lower mastery, poorer self-rated health may threaten emotional well-being in later life. ...
Objective: The objective is to examine competing explanatory and suppression influences on a negative, linear association between age and depressive symptoms. Methods:Two samples were used: a community sample of physically disabled individuals and a comparison sample matched on age, sex, and area of residence. Results:Fewer economic hardships and fewer experiences of negative interpersonal exchanges among older disabled and nondisabled respondents account for the negative relationship between age and depressive symptoms. Higher scores on a composite measure of religiosity among older disabled adults also account for part of the negative age effect. Conversely, a lower sense of mastery among older respondents in both samples suppresses the size of the negative age slope. Discussion:Findings are discussed in terms of stress process and socioemotional selectivity theories, which predict that personal and social arrangements influence the experience of emotions differentially across the life course.
... Finally, middle-aged adults may experience greater control over their problem situations they generated in comparison with older adults. In fact, it is argued that midlife individuals experience a peak in personal control and power (Clark-Plaskie & Lachman, 1999;Lachman & Weaver, 1998). In the context of the present study, it may be the case that middle-aged adults' instrumental and proactive approach to emotion regulation such as directly confronting others results directly from a perceived control and power over the situation. ...
We examined age differences in problem-focused and emotion-regulatory problem-solving strategy use for self-generated family problems. Young, middle-aged, and older participants generated family problem situations that were high and low in emotional salience. They were asked both how they solved the problem and how they managed emotions involved in the problem. We conducted analyses on three categories of problem-solving strategies: instrumental strategies, proactive emotion regulation, and passive emotion regulation. When regulating emotions, middle-aged adults used more proactive emotion-regulation strategies than older adults, and older adults used more passive emotion-regulation strategies than middle-aged adults. These effects were driven by the high emotional salience condition.
Stressors encountered in daily life aspects, such as home, and work may increase physical and emotional reactivity to stress especially in persons working in the nursing field. Characteristics of the individual as age may limit or increase his reactivity to daily stressors. The aim of this study is to examine the age differences in physical and emotional reactivity to daily stressors among nurses working in Al-Abbassia Mental Health Hospital. A descriptive correlational design was utilized for the current study. Sample of convenience of 100 psychiatric nurses working in Al-Abbassia Mental Health Hospital were divided into two groups "middle age group" and "young age group". Four tools were utilized in the current study including socio-demographic Data Sheet, Daily Stressors Scale, Physical Symptoms of Stress Scale, and Psychological Distress Scale. The results showed that: middle adult group of nurses reported physical and emotional reactivity to daily stress less than younger adult group of nurses. The study concludes that, age plays an important role in controlling emotional and physical reactivity to stress amongnurses working in Al-Abbassia Mental Health Hospital. Further investigation is
needed to examine age groups' difference to stress, as well as, other factors that may be influential in stress development
Chapter 5 considers how working mothers navigate work and family as they move from the daily responsibilities of raising children to parenting adult children to retirement. As working mothers’ parenting role shifts in conjunction with midlife changes, they may begin a process of career recalibration as they consider what they want to do that is meaningful and engaging in this next life phase. The varied ways working mothers approach this issue is a key focus of this chapter. We go on to discuss some of the late-stage transitions women may experience, including grown children returning home and leaving paid work permanently. Each of these experiences presents women with new choices as they craft the final chapters of their work/life paths.
We argue that positive personality development follows two distinct but interrelated trajectories that begin to diverge in adulthood; that is, personality adjustment and personality growth. We review empirical evidence stemming from a wide range of adult personality research to substantiate the usefulness of this distinction. We argue that aging, in modern industrialized societies, so far normatively optimizes adjustment but not growth. In line with this evidence and with a contextualistic perspective on development, we argue that whether the potential for personality change actually unfolds also depends on (social) contextual influences. We therefore discuss in an exemplary and more detailed fashion two specific contextual influences that affect positive (personality) development: age stereotypes and the work context.Keywords:personality development;adulthood;adjustment;growth;wisdom;contextualism
Ageing, by definition, involves moving across lived time. Grounded in developmental psychology, particularly lifespan developmental theory, this study examines two time-related factors that may affect psychological wellbeing in adulthood. Particularly, chronological age and perceived time left to live (i.e. future time perspective) are predicted to act as opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. Young (N = 285, 19–29 years) and middle-aged adults (N = 135, 47–64 years) self-reported their current psychological wellbeing (across six dimensions) and their sense of future time perspective. As predicted, mediation analyses show that higher levels of chronological age (being in midlife), and having a more open-ended, positive future time perspective are both related to higher psychological wellbeing. Note, however, that being in midlife is related to a more limited and negative future time perspective. As such, confirming our conceptual argument, while both age and future perspective are measures of time in a general sense, analyses show that they act as unique, opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. The current research suggests that individuals can optimise psychological wellbeing to the extent that they maintain an open-ended and positive sense of the future.
Using data from a representative sample of adults in Toronto, we ask, "Is religiosity related to the sense of mastery?" Cross-sectional analyses document a negative association between religiosity and mastery. We also test alternative predictions about the potential moderating effects of education and income ("resource amplification" versus "compensation"): results support the amplification hypothesis. Cross-sectional findings indicate that the negative association between religiosity and mastery is stronger among the poorly educated. As the level of education increases, this association reverses and becomes positive. In addition, the decrease in mastery associated with baseline religiosity is largest among people with the lowest income. Yet the effect of baseline religiosity on change in mastery does not vary by level of education. We discuss our findings in the context of recent literature on religiosity, socioeconomic statuses, and the self-concept, as well as their implications for sociological study of the effects of religious beliefs and actions on mental health outcomes.
Ageing, by definition, involves moving across lived time. Grounded in developmental psychology, particularly lifespan developmental theory, this study examines two time-related factors that may affect psychological wellbeing in adulthood. Particularly, chronological age and perceived time left to live (i.e. future time perspective) are predicted to act as opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. Young (N = , – years) and middle-aged adults (N = , – years) self-reported their current psychological wellbeing (across six dimensions) and their sense of future time perspective. As predicted, mediation analyses show that higher levels of chronological age (being in midlife), and having a more open-ended, positive future time perspective are both related to higher psychological wellbeing. Note, however, that being in midlife is related to a more limited and negative future time perspective. As such, confirming our conceptual argument, while both age and future perspective are measures of time in a general sense, analyses show that they act as unique, opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. The current research suggests that individuals can optimise psychological wellbeing to the extent that they maintain an open-ended and positive sense of the future. KEY WORDS – adult development, psychological wellbeing, future time perspective, midlife.
This exploratory study focuses primarily on the nature and components of the midlife transition and secondarily considers its antecedents and consequences for a group of 36 professional women who were married, had children, and had enduring careers. In-depth interviews with these women provided the data for our analysis. The results suggest that age, family characteristics, and employment characteristics influence the transition. In addition, the women rebalance and develop new perspectives at midlife. Components of the resulting internal and external recalibration are identified. This recalibration resulted in increased satisfaction and overall well-being.
Viele Studien zeigen Zusammenhänge zwischen depressiven Störungen und distalen sowie proximalen belastenden Lebensereignissen. Bisher fehlen jedoch Untersuchungen, die a) die Wirkung belastender distaler und proximaler Ereignisse gleichzeitig analysieren, b) den Einfluss dieser Ereignisse auf unterschiedliche Verlaufsformen depressiver Störungen untersuchen und c) die Rolle positiver Faktoren berücksichtigen. Basierend auf Daten von 349 Personen (geb. 1950-52), die an den ersten beiden Messzeitpunkten der Interdisziplinären Längsschnittstudie des Erwachsenenalters (ILSE) teilnahmen (T1-T2: 4.1 Jahre), wird der Einfluss von distalen und proximalen Lebensereignissen auf den weiteren Verlauf von minorer und Major Depression analysiert sowie die Rolle positiver Faktoren untersucht. Ausgehend von ILSE-T2 stehen 227 psychisch immer gesunden Teilnehmern, 78 remittierte Depressive (dies sind Probanden, die bis zu T1 irgendwann im Laufe ihres Lebens eine depressive Episode erlitten hatten, aber nicht mehr in den vier Erhebungszwischenjahren), 23 Depressive mit einem Rückfall und 21 späte neuerkrankte Depressive gegenüber. Die psychiatrischen Diagnosen wurden mit dem Strukturierten klinischen Interview für DSM-III-R erhoben. Belastende Kindheitsereignisse (0 bis 16. Lebensjahr) wurden zu T1 im Rahmen eines halbstrukturierten Interviews, anhand offener Fragen zur Kindheit, Situation in der Familie etc. erhoben und anhand einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse 20 Kategorien aus den Bereichen Verlust- Trennungsereignisse, Psychopathologie eines Elternteils, Traumatisierung durch andere und weitere Widrigkeiten (disharmonische Familienverhältnisse, eigene chronische Erkrankung) zugeordnet. Die zeitnahen Ereignisse wurden zu T2 anhand eines halbstrukturierten Interviews (offene Fragen zu Veränderungen in den vorausgegangenen vier Jahren) erhoben und 34 Kategorien aus den Bereichen Beruf, Gesundheit, Wohnen, Finanzen, Justiz, Partnerschaft, soziales Umfeld, Tod zugeordnet. Basierend auf einer Hauptkomponentenanalyse wurden die folgenden fünf positiven Faktoren aufgebaut: 1) Ausgedehnter Lebensraum/stützendes familiäres Umfeld, 2) hohe Selbstwirksamkeit, 3) hohe Integration in Peergruppen, 4) hohes Selbstwertgefühl/positives Selbstbild in der Jugend und 5) hohe kognitive Befähigung. Es zeigen sich im Vergleich mit der gesunden Kontrollgruppe bei remittierten, wieder erkrankten und neu erkrankten Personen a) mehr kritische Lebensereignisse, b)differenzielle Einflüsse der Ereignisse auf Inzidenz und Verlauf einer Depression und c) protektive Effekte von persönlichen und sozialen Ressourcen auf spezifische Lebensereignisse. Although many studies show relations between adverse distal (in childhood) and proximal events and the onset of depressive disorders in early adulthood, a) the association between childhood adversities and the first onset and the further course of depressive disorders in middle adulthood, b) the role of short-term effects of proximal stressful events in the run-up to the onset of a depression, and c) the role of protective factors regarding a specific mental disorder such as depression remains unclear. With data from N = 349 individuals (born 1950-52) who participated at both measurement points (T1-T2: 4.1 years) of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development the study analysed the influence of stressful distal and proximal events and protective factors on the course of minor and major depression. The sample consists of 227 mentally healthy participants, 78 participants with a lifetime history of mMD, who stayed remitted in the preceding four years of ILSE-T2, 23 participants with a relapse of a depressive episode and 21 participants with an incident depressive episode between T1 and T2. Depression was assessed using the German version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III-R. Childhood adversities were retrospectively assessed in a semi-structured interview at T1 (0-16 years of age). Using qualitative content analysis the adverse childhood experiences were classified into 20 categories of four event types: loss events, parental psychopathology, traumatic events and other adversities such as discord in family or chronical illness in childhood/youth. At T2 participants were asked in a semi-structured interview about the life events and life changes in the preceding four years. Using content analysis, recent stressful life events were classified into 34 categories of nine life-domains (work, health, residence/housing, finances, legal problems, partnership, social network, death, and others). Based on a principal component analysis, five protective factors were extracted out of a pool of primary 20 variables: Extended and supportive parental environment, high self-efficacy, high peer-group integration in youth, positive self-esteem in youth, and high cognitive ability and high postive self-esteem as pupil. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with an incidence, relapse or remission of a depressive disorder show higher amounts of distal and proximal stressful events. Differential influences of these events on the incidence and course of depression were found. Proximal events may function as trigger (i.e. unemployment) or marker (i.e. marital problems) of a depressive disorder. Including protective factors (i.e. lebensraum, self-efficacy, social integration) the effects of specific adverse events diminished. Consequences for further research, diagnostics and prevention are discussed.
Control beliefs, i.e. a person's perceived control over his or her own behaviour, are important predictors of psychological functioning in old age. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating effect of housing-related control beliefs on the relationship between housing accessibility and independence in activities of daily living (ADL). Moreover, cross-national differences in five European countries were analysed, based on data from the ENABLE-AGE Project. Data were collected at home visits with 1 918 very old people aged 75–89 years, living alone at home in Swedish, German, British, Hungarian, and Latvian urban areas. Assessments were based on standardized instruments with good psychometric properties. Correlations showed small to medium relationships between accessibility, housing-related control beliefs, and ADL independence. Further, multi-group structural equation modelling revealed that not only housing accessibility but housing-related control beliefs explain unique portions of variation in the independent performance of daily activities. In particular, participants with lower external control beliefs performed more independently in ADL. Though some differences among countries were observed, cross-national similarity in correlative patterns existed regarding control beliefs and independence in ADL. Introducing the concept of housing-related control beliefs into occupational therapy, comprehensively and cross-nationally, has the potential to increase our professional understanding of older people's housing situation.
The transition to old age has often been related to loss of control, depression, and lowered self-esteem. A different picture, however, begins to emerge from recent age-comparative studies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from two larger studies in the age range from middle to late adulthood are presented which indicate that elderly people, while being perceptive of age-related developmental losses, are quite effective in maintaining a sense of control and a positive view of self and personal development. It is argued that the apparent resiliency of the aging self hinges on the interplay between two basic processes: (1) instrumental activities that aim at preventing or alleviating developmental losses in domains that are relevant to the individual's self-esteem and identity; (2) accommodative processes by which personal goals and frames of self-evaluation are adjusted to changes in action resources and functional capacities. Evidence is presented in support of the assumption that with advancing age, accommodative processes become increasingly important aspects of coping and life-management.
Individuals as producers of their own life span development are discussed with regard to the major challenges, opportunities, and constraints encountered over the life course. Major challenges of life span development and human behaviour include the need to be selective in choosing life course paths, and the failure proneness of human behaviour. Management mechanisms directed at these challenges can be identified on the societal and the individual level. Socio-structural regulations of life course selectivity and failure are viewed as constraining but also supporting individual life course management. Individual life course management is conceptualised in terms of the model of optimisation by selection and compensation, which is elaborated by applying the life span model of primary and secondary control developed by Heckhausen and Schulz. The integrated model conceptualises optimisation as a higher-order process regulating selection and compensation, so that the long-term potential for primary control is promoted. Primary and secondary control strategies are identified for both selection and compensation, thus yielding four types of life-management strategies. Finally, it is argued that selection and compensation are not adaptive in and of themselves and may become dysfunctional when impairing the long-term potential for primary control.
Conducted 2 experiments in paired-associate learning in which 20 undergraduates were permitted to choose their responses from alternatives following the procedure of L. C. Perlmuter, R. A. Monty, and G. A. Kimble . The other 20 Ss were forced to learn the responses chosen by their yoked masters. Both groups of Ss were forced to learn an interposed A-C list following the choice-force procedure but prior to learning the A-B list. The performance of force Ss was reliably superior to that of choice Ss on A-C; however, when both groups learned A-B, the typical facilitative effect of choice was disturbed. In Exp II with 40 undergraduates, interposing a C-D list produced equivalent performance in both groups on C-D. Similarly, the facilitative effect of choice was not observed on the subsequent A-B trials. The degraded performance of choice Ss is discussed in terms of frustration as an additional source of motivation.
Some studies report that activists are Internals, while others claim they are Externals, holding a belief in chance, fate, and powerful others. Three new scales were constructed in order to measure belief in chance (C) as separate from expectancy for control by powerful others (P), and perceived mastery over one's personal life (I). Two studies are reported. (1.) As predicted, responses from 96 adults indicated that only a belief in chance was differentially related to involvement and information on anti-pollution activities. (2.) In factor analyzing the responses of 329 college males to the 24 items of the new scales, three main factors were identified — I, P, and C. The validity and usefulness of the tripartite division in clarifying past findings regarding the multidimensionality of I-E were discussed.
Highlights theory and research concerning internal vs external locus of control of reinforcement (IE) and explores the ways in which the IE dimension is related to attributions and personal styles such as perceived control, helplessness, and optimism, particularly in regard to health. Discussed are (1) J. B. Rotter's (1954) social learning theory and early IE research, (2) the Nowicki-Strickland Internal–External Scale, (3) contemporary cognitive-expectancy variables and health, and (4) IE in relation to creativity. It is suggested that the strategies that individuals use to understand and control events in their lives depend on understanding of contingencies between behavior and subsequent events and include the creation of new patterns of contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the nature of change and antecedents of differential change in selected personality and intelligence factors in later life. On 2 occasions at an interval of 2 yrs, a battery of personality and intelligence tests was administered to 76 community-residing elderly Ss (mean age 69 yrs). Intelligence factors were Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence, Perceptual Speed, and Memory Span. Personality factors were Internal, Chance, and Powerful Others Locus of Control; Intellectual Self-Efficacy; and Concern About Intellectual Aging. Structural invariance over time was found for the personality and intelligence factors. Average level of Perceptual Speed and Memory Span increased, and Internal Control declined over the 2 yrs. Two dimensions, Memory and Efficacy, exhibited marked change in interindividual rankings. Causal modeling techniques suggested that personality did not account for changes in Memory Span. Changes in perceived Intellectual Self-Efficacy, however, were predicted by antecedent individual differences in Fluid Intelligence and Internal Locus of Control. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Studied attributions in a purely chance task (predicting coin tosses) as a function of either a descending, ascending, or random sequence of outcomes and as a function of whether the S performed the task himself or observed another S performing the task. A primary effect was predicted; early successes would induce a skill orientation towards the task. Data from 90 male undergraduates support the prediction. Ss in the descending condition rated themselves as significantly better at predicting the outcomes of coin tosses than Ss in either of the other 2 groups. This group also overremembered past successes and expected more future successes than the other 2 groups. Involvement had the effect of increasing Ss' expectations of future successes and tended to increase their evaluation of their past performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research involving perceived internal vs external control of reinforcement as a personality variable has been expanding at a rapid rate. It seems clear that for some investigators there are problems associated with understanding the conceptualization of this construct as well as understanding the nature and limitations of methods of measurement. This article discusses in detail (a) the place of this construct within the framework of social learning theory, (b) misconceptions and problems of a theoretical nature, and (c) misuses and limitations associated with measurement. Problems of generality-specificity and unidimensionality-multidimensionality are discussed as well as the logic of predictions from test scores. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined both the influence of internal-external (I-E) control on a number of facets of work experience and the influence of work experience on change in I-E control. Utilizing 2,972 respondents from the National Longitudinal Surveys' representative national sample of middle-aged males, multiple regression analysis, and an 11-item abbreviated version of Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, a systematic influence of I-E control on success in the world of work was observed. The observed relationships were independent of individual differences in skills, abilities, and demographic distribution and were obtained on the basis of longitudinal as well as cross-sectional data. The data also provide considerable support for the hypothesis that success at work enhances the expectancy of internal control. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A serendipitous finding supports J. B. Rotter's proposition that individual differences in generalized expectancy for internal vs. external control of reinforcement depend upon the individual's history of reinforcement. The Internal-External (I-E) Locus of Control scale was administered to 23 male undergraduates on the day following the draft lottery. Those who were 19 or older and were therefore affected by the lottery showed a greater expectancy for external control of reinforcement than a control group of Ss to whom the I-E scale was administered prior to the lottery (p < .10). A breakdown of experimental Ss into 2 groups those who were favorably affected by the lottery and those who were not favorably affected by it revealed that the former group showed significantly more externality than the latter (p < .05) and largely accounted for the greater externality of experimental Ss as compared with controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes a theory of cognitive adaptation to threatening events. It is argued that the adjustment process centers around 3 themes: A search for meaning in the experience, an attempt to regain mastery over the event in particular and over life more generally, and an effort to restore self-esteem through self-enhancing evaluations. These themes are discussed with reference to cancer patients' coping efforts. It is maintained that successful adjustment depends, in a large part, on the ability to sustain and modify illusions that buffer not only against present threats but also against possible future setbacks. (84 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
There are at least 2 general paths to a feeling of control. In primary control, individuals enhance their rewards by influencing existing realities (e.g., other people, circumstances, symptoms, or behavior problems). In secondary control, individuals enhance their rewards by accommodating to existing realities and maximizing satisfaction or goodness of fit with things as they are. It is argued that American psychologists' exclusive focus on primary control reflects a cultural context in which primary control is heavily emphasized and highly valued. In Japan, by contrast, primary control has traditionally been less highly valued and less often anticipated, and secondary control has assumed a more central role in everyday life. Japanese and American perspectives and practices are contrasted in childrearing, socialization, religion and philosophy, work, and psychotherapy. These comparisons reveal some key benefits, and some costs, of both primary and secondary approaches to control. The comparisons suggest that an important goal, both for individuals and for cultures, is an optimally adaptive blend of primary and secondary control. (116 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This studv was designed to test hypotheses concerning the influence of sex roles and social status on future orientation (FO). The latter was measured in various categories (spheres of life),on the dimensions of density (number of hopes andfears cited by the subject), extension, and optimism-pessimism. Also included was a measure of ‘internal vs. external control’ (the subject's assessment as to whether the realization of his hopes and fears is dependent more on himself or more on external factors). Subjects were 100 employed men and women of the lower and middle class. It was found that, in comparison with women, men voiced more hopes/fears in the public sphere (economy, politics, environment) and fewer in the private sphere uamily, occupation, personal development). Men had a more extended FO in the occupational and economic spheres; women, in contrast, in the private sphere. (These results contradicted the assumption of earlier studies that FO is a general orientation, not varying across different domains of life.) Middle-class (in comparison to lowerclass) persons manifested a, wore extended FO, envisioned the distant future more optimistically, and believed more markedly that the realization of their hopes and fears depended on themselves.
Criticizes and reformulates the learned helplessness hypothesis. It is considered that the old hypothesis, when applied to learned helplessness in humans, has 2 major problems: (a) It does not distinguish between cases in which outcomes are uncontrollable for all people and cases in which they are uncontrollable only for some people (universal vs personal helplessness), and (b) it does not explain when helplessness is general and when specific, or when chronic and when acute. A reformulation based on a revision of attribution theory is proposed to resolve these inadequacies. According to the reformulation, once people perceive noncontingency, they attribute their helplessness to a cause. This cause can be stable or unstable, global or specific, and internal or external. The attribution chosen influences whether expectation of future helplessness will be chronic or acute, broad or narrow, and whether helplessness will lower self-esteem or not. The implications of this reformulation of human helplessness for the learned helplessness model of depression are outlined. (92 ref)
Analyzed data from a total of 92 60-85 yr old males and females to ascertain level of expectancy for control as well as the relationship between internal control and adaptive behavior. Assessments were made with Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, indices of developmental adjustment and active involvement, and the Life Satisfaction Index measure of emotional adaptation. In several analyses it was found that (a) the elderly of the present sample manifested an exceptionally internal level of locus of control relative to most contemporary, younger groups; (b) degree of internal control related positively to all 3 indices of adjustment to the later years; and (c) for the variable of involvement, external females displayed the lowest level of adjustment, with a trend in the interaction between sex and degree of internal control similarly apparent in other variables as well. Verification of the theory of locus of control is discussed for later stages in the life span, as well as potential avenues for research to delineate the developmental nature of locus of control. (19 ref)
Three experiments were conducted to explain why increases in personal control sometimes have been found to lead to negative reactions, such as lowered self-esteem and increased negative mood. In Experiment 1, subjects either were allowed a choice or had no choice of experimental tasks. Further, subjects had been led to believe that they were either fairly competent or incompetent on the chosen task. Increases in negative mood were found among subjects in the choice conditions, but, contrary to prediction, the level of competence on the task had no effect. In Experiment 2, subjects again were allowed either a choice or no choice of tasks, but half of the subjects were led to believe that their performance on the task would be unknown to the experimenter. Lower self-esteem and increases in negative mood were found only among subjects given a choice of tasks who also believed that the outcome of their performance would be known. In Experiment 3, subjects given a choice of two tasks at which they believed they were competent did not display the increases in negative mood found among subjects given a choice of a task at which they believed themselves to be competent and one at which they believed they were incompetent. It is suggested that impression-management concerns may be responsible for the negative reactions to increased control found in some situations.
The present study utilized three age groups of volunteer male and female members of two large churches, one liberal and one conservative, of the same Protestant denomination. Subjects were assessed as to an intrinsic-extrinsic religious orientation, a belief in internal versus external control of reinforcement, and authoritarianism. Results suggest that church members identified as religiously intrinsic were significantly more likely to believe in internal control of reinforcement. Authoritarianism was not related to either religious orientation or locus of control. Relationships between the belief systems, age, sex, education, and church attendance were also discussed.
Several studies were conducted during the period 1978–1983 to ascertain whether there has been, in recent years, change among Italian undergraduates in perceived control. Six samples of Italian undergraduates completed the Italian version of the Rotter locus of control scale. In 1983 I-E scores, for men as well as for women, were significantly higher than those obtained in 1978. Over time there has been a moderate but gradual shift within the population toward a more external locus of control. Moderate but significant sex differences were found for each sample. Findings suggested that the increase in external control is influenced by realistic considerations. Further implications of the finding were discussed.
Rotter ( 1966) developed the Internal-External Control of Reinforcement Scale (I-E) as a measure of the tendency to perceive events as being the result of one's own control as opposed to the tendency to perceive events as fate or chance controlled. In situations in which the person's expectancy for selfdirected success would become diminished, it would be expected that scores on the I-E scale would shift in the direction of external locus of control. The following accidental observation appears to provide evidence of a rapid shift toward an external orientation following a shift in expectancy. As part of a classroom demonstration of some current research scales, 62
The purpose of this study was to determine through a systematic, multivariate approach, the relative importance of several
physical, psychological, and social variables to the type of control that middle-aged adults perceive over their environment.
The physical variables included self-rated health, age, sex, and race. The psychological variables included three measures
of self concept: actual, appearance, and ideal; and the social variables included education, occupation, and religious motivation.
The sample for the study consisted of 337 adults 45 to 65 years of age. When selected variables were categorically ordered,
and their relative association with i-e examined, factors that were reflective of the process of acculturation such as self-concept,
religious motivation, and occupation maintained the strongest relationship to perceived control. Jobs such as administrative
and operative types that allowed for perceptions of control through the manipulation of people or machines, positive (actual)
self-concept, and intrinsic religious motivation were predictive of internal perceiving adults.
This article assesses the retirement outlook of American baby boomers--those born between 1946 and 1964--compared with their parents with regard to income, wealth, and family situation (having a spouse present or grown children available, and the likelihood of living alone). Differences between trailing and leading edge boomers and between those better and worse off are considered. The analysis finds that, on average, the boomers' living levels in retirement are likely to be considerably better than their parents', except possibly for the poorest segment of the trailing edge. However, a noticeably smaller proportion of retired boomers will have a spouse or adult children, and a considerably larger proportion will live alone. This contrast reflects the fact that the boomers raised their economic status over that of their parents largely by remaining single or childless, or by having fewer children and combining mother's work with childbearing.
We present a brief overview of the areas of planning and control to provide a context for the individual papers in this special issue. For both topics we consider development across the life span, subgroup variations (e.g. by gender), and correlates (e.g. well-being). We then explore potential linkages between planning and control. Our attempt to integrate control and planning is meant to stimulate future work which considers these processes together from a life span perspective.
The present research was conducted to investigate middle‐aged and older adults’ beliefs about intellectual control and aging. Self‐perception theory suggests that adults’ beliefs may be an outcome rather than a cause of their behavior in intellectual tasks and also may be influenced by their behavior in non‐intellectual domains. Middle‐aged and older adults (N = 86) were administered the Personality in Intellectual Aging Contexts Inventory, inductive reasoning and vocabulary tests associated with fluid and crystallized intelligence, and generalized scales of Internal and External Locus of Control. Regression analyses indicated that both ability performance and generalized locus of control were predictive of perceptions of Intellectual Self‐Efficacy (R = .55) and Concern about Intellectual Aging (R = .64). Further analyses indicated that Intellectual Self‐Efficacy remained constant with age during midlife but declined in old age, whereas Concern about Intellectual Aging was stable during middle adulthood and increased in later life. These age trends, however, were not significant when effects of ability performance and generalized locus of control were partialled. Results are discussed with respect to the development of adults’ beliefs about their intellectual functioning, previous research on personality‐ability relations, and their implications for the design and assessment of cognitive intervention research.
Age-correlated differences in locus of control (LOC) orientation were examined for 306 persons age 13 to 90 in three areas of activity: intellectual, social, and physical. On the scales measuring LOC for both physical and social situations, persons over 60 scored more external than adults in the 35–50 age range. No age differences were observed in the intellectual domain. Findings seem consistent with the realities regarding changes in ability and opportunity for reinforcement which characterize the elderly. Results appear particularly important given that LOC is strongly related to life adjustment for this age group.Copyright © 1976 S. Karger AG, Basel
This study assesses the effectiveness of two stress-reducing strategies in a field setting. The first strategy consists of a coping device which entails the cognitive reappraisal of anxiety-provoking events, calming self-talk, and cognitive control through selective attention. The second strategy consists of supplying information about the threatening event along with reassurances for the purpose of producing emotional inoculation. Patients about to undergo major surgery were exposed to either the coping device, the preparatory information, both strategies, or neither. The prediction that the coping device would effectively reduce both pre- and post-operative stress was confirmed. An analysis of the nurses' ratings of preoperative stress showed a significant main effect for the coping device. There was also a significant main effect for the coping device on postoperative measures (number of pain relievers requested and proportion of patients requesting sedatives). The preparatory information, however, did not produce any significant effects on these postoperative measures.
Perceptions of personal control were studied in 1267 individuals who represented four generations of families participating in a large longitudinal study spanning 1971 to 1991. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential analytic strategies were employed. Over 20 years, mean levels of personal control became more internal in the 560 respondents who participated at all four times of measurement, probably as a reflection of contextual factors in the culture. Developmental changes toward greater internality were indicated for young adults as they progressed into middle age. Cross-sectional differences in middle-aged and older adults did not appear to represent developmental differences. The oldest generation of women was consistently the most external subgroup, suggesting a cohort effect reflective of their socio-historical reality.
An analysis of the components of planning is presented that incorporates problem representation, goal selection, a decision to plan, strategy choice, strategy execution, and monitoring. We argue that which components are required and which developmental changes are triggered or revealed depend on the planning task. We present analyses of three tasks typically used to study planning: the Tower of Hanoi; errand scheduling; and story comprehension. We argue that the performance on the Tower of Hanoi task reflects representational and monitoring demands, and that story comprehension depends strongly on social comprehension and monitoring. Because many everyday plans like running errands have prepackaged components and take place in a less controllable environment, affective and attributional components affect most strongly the choice of goals, decision to plan, and strategy choice. We then speculate on the course of development of each processing component and the complex interplay of cognition, beliefs, attitudes, and motivation in assembling and implementing plans to handle different tasks. Finally, we consider changes across the life span in the kinds of plans that are generated.
Lacking in the research on work and well-being is a focus on the characteristics of the employment role that contribute to well-being and their differential relations across ethnicity and gender. White and Black women and men at midlife (ages 40–64) were studied. The samples were drawn from two national surveys and included 186 White women, 202 White men, 254 Black women, and 169 Black men. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the relation of work commitment, job satisfaction, role stress, occupational status and personal income to perceived control, life satisfaction, and happiness. Marital status, age, and hours worked were included as control variables. Results indicate that job satisfaction is positively related to life satisfaction for all four groups, and to happiness for White women and Black men. Personal income is positively related to perceived control for Black women and White men, and to life satisfaction for White women. Occupational status is positively related to perceived control for White and Black women; role stress is negatively related to life satisfaction among White men, and to happiness among Black women. Among the control variables, being married is positively related to well-being for all four race-sex groups.
Tested the hypothesis that older men will exhibit a more internal locus of control (LOC) than younger men and that older women will exhibit a more internal LOC than younger women by collecting questionnaire data from 153 male and 140 female MBA students. Younger women and men showed no difference in LOC, but older men showed a more internal and women a more external LOC. These results may reflect older women's perception of a limited ability to control external variables that they associate with their career success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
provides an overview of self-efficacy mechanisms in psychobiological functioning and points to empirical evidence for biochemical effects of self-efficacy in coping with stress, such as autonomous, catecholamine, and opioid activation / research on pain control as well as on immunocompetence demonstrates that people with optimistic self-beliefs are better off and cope well / they are also at an advantage in the self-management of chronic disease and in the rehabilitation process / self-efficacy improves changes in health behaviors and thus helps to minimize health risks (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Age differences in control beliefs were examined for several domains, including intellectual aging and memory, with a sample of 200 adults (ages 20–89). There were no age differences in control beliefs for the interpersonal or political domains. For the domains of health and intellectual aging, however, the older adults had lower internal control and higher external control beliefs than young and middle-aged adults. The implications of these control beliefs are considered in the context of memory aging and memory training programs. A program of research is described that involves teaching older adults memory strategies in conjunction with cognitive restructuring of beliefs about the controllability of memory. The goal of the program is to optimize memory performance and attitudes about memory, as well as to identify some of the self-appraisal and motivational mechanisms involved in memory aging.
This study investigated those aspects of the work experience of middle-aged and preretirement-aged adults in which personal control is most likely to be threatened, and it identified related problems in performance, job satisfaction, and adjustment. Four dimensions of work experience emerged as sources of threat to personal control: Workload Demands, Limited Growth Opportunity, Personal/Family Crises, and Working Conditions. Diminished control in these areas was associated with increased job stress, generalized stress, depression, injuries on the job, and absenteeism, as well as with decreased job involvement, lower job satisfaction, and disrupted performance. In contrast to popular stereotypes, older workers actually exhibited fewer control concerns and less job stress, and greater job involvement and job satisfaction. Work-specific control problems were related to generalized control beliefs only among the younger age group.
Patients with chronic or advancing disease often generate perceptions that they or others can control aspects of their illness such as its symptoms, course, and treatment. This article considers self-generated feelings of control, and provides evidence from patients with cardiac disease, cancer, and AIDS concerning the adaptiveness of these feelings. The research suggests that beliefs in personal control generally appear to be adaptive. Perceptions of control do not appear to be explained by the absence of negative affectivity, and instead, appear to reduce anxiety and depression. Cognitions concerning control by others yield more mixed results. Whereas women and patients with good prognoses appear to profit psychologically from feelings of vicarious control, men and patients with poor prognoses do not. Implications for the literatures on psychological control, the illusion of control, and adjustment to chronic illness are discussed.
This study examined patterns of perceived change across adulthood in a sample of 121 young (M age=19.8 years), middle-aged (M age=47.9 years) and older (M age=74.6 years) adults. Subjects rated amount of stress in life domains, salience of life course issues, and nature of personal attributes for young, middle-aged, and older targets. Seven prototypical patterns of perceived change were found. Midlife was seen as a period with many responsibilities, increased stress in several domains, and little time for leisure, but also as a peak in competence, ability to handle stress, sense of control, productivity, and social responsibility. The findings are discussed in terms of losses, which were seen primarily in the physical realm, and gains, which were mainly seen in the psychological and social realms.
The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and the Telic Dominance Scale were administered on three occasions to 28 males and 28 females. At the first and second sessions they completed the inventories as though they were their ideal or their worst self, and, at the third session, were asked to report truthfully and accurately on their real self. In general the worst self was more neurotic, more introverted, more psychotic, more telic dominant and more externally oriented than the ideal self and showed low social desirability and Lie Scale scores. Ideal self report produces a marked tendency towards a need for social approval and virtousness. For extraversion, psychoticism, and locus of control scores, the real self was not significantly different from the ideal self. If real self report reflects the truth, then this finding lends support to the assertion that these scales are not affected by tendencies to idealize the self. There are significant differences in telic dominance scores and (not surprisingly) in Lie Scale and social desirability scores. Significant Sex × Scale interactions produced the suggestion that inviting respondents to complete inventories in accord with a simulated self may offer a way of exploring desired and undesired stereotypical profiles.
Personality-ability relationships in old age were examined in 71 elderly persons. Two modes of assessment were used. One consisted of measuring intellectual abilities (17 tests) and personality (6 dimensions) by means of established instruments. Intellectual abilities covered were drawn from Horn and Cattell's model of psychometric intelligence. Personality dimensions included three measures of locus of control and one measure each for achievement motivation, anxiety, and morale. The second mode of assessment was aimed directly at the interface between cognitive abilities and personality. Six such interface (context-specific) scales, involving self-assessment and attributions dealing with intellectual functioning in the context of aging, were developed using the six traditional (transcontextual) personality scales as conceptual criteria. These newly developed interface scales exhibit satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity with their transcontextual parent scales of personality. The six parent personality measures and the six personality-ability interface scales were correlated, separately, with performance scores of psychometric intelligence. Relationships between the two domains (personality, ability) were substantial and of greater magnitude when personality was assessed in the context of the personality-ability interface. Because of the conjoint anchoring of the interface scales to both personality and ability, the findings provide a basis for beginning to clarify the nature of personality-ability relationships in old age. In addition, the results support the continuation of a measurement approach to the study of interdomain relationships that includes the use of direct assessments of the domain interface, in addition to traditionally distinct measures of different domains.
Four experiments are reported in which half of the subjects were permitted to choose either the stimulus or response members of S-R pairs from groupings of alternative stimuli or responses following the procedures of Perlmuter, Monty, and Kimble. The other subjects were exposed to the materials and were forced to learn the material chosen by their yoked partners. Approximately 24 h later, both groups learned PA lists comprised of either the chosen or forced material. Choosing either the stimulus or the response facilitated performance irrespective of whether the other member of the S-R pair was present at the time of choosing. This finding ruled out an associative hookup interpretation in favor of a purely motivational hypothesis and demonstrated the temporal durability of the effect of choosing.
For American baby boomers, altered demographic behavior has been the key to transforming adverse labor market conditions into favorable living levels. The economic well-being of baby boomers is, on average, higher than that of their predecessors, because they are disproportionately remaining single, having fewer children, doubling up with others, forming unmarried couple unions, and coupling mother's work with childbearing. In the 1980s, baby boomers share in common with all cohorts an increase in income inequality. In contrast to the findings on average income, demographic changes had little effect on the trend in inequality of economic well-being compared with that in earnings.
The long-term effects of participating in a field experiment on the effects of control and predictability-enhancing interventions are reported. Retirement home residents who had initially benefited from being exposed to a specific positive predictable or controllable event were assessed at three different intervals after the study was terminated. Health and psychological status data collected 24, 30, and 42 months after the study was terminated indicated no positive long-term effects attributable to the interventions. In fact, groups that had initially benefited from the interventions exhibited precipitous declines once the study was terminated, whereas groups that had not benefited remained stable over time. The theoretical and ethical implications of these data are discussed.
The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of per- sonal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of ob- stacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more de- pendable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived self- efficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and be- havioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.
A study was conducted to replicate and extend the findings of Lao (1974) which showed an increasing sense of personal efficacy from youth to adulthood, a stabilized sense of internal control through middle age, and no decrease in internality among elderly Ss. Current findings (100 college students, an occupational survey sample of 383) generally replicate these outcomes. Also, elderly Ss believed they were personally competent, and not at the mercy of powerful others or a capricious environment. Such findings question stereotypes of elderly as powerless and dependent on others to subsist in a threatening and unreliable environment.
Clinical depression is on the increase in adolescence and young adulthood. Since world war II, psychiatrists are seeing depressed
patients who are younger, less severely ill, and more commonly neurotic than psychotic. These patients are most often seen
in outpatient and ambulatory settings rather than inpatient hospital facilities. Several reasons have been postulated for
this increase: (1) the baby boom following world war II increased the number of people in this age group and (2) the sheer
number of people created stresses with which conventional social institutions cannot cope. A shrinking economy and other forces
blocking economic gain counteract rising expectations of all young adults, and a situation is created that gives rise to loss
of self-esteem, frustration, and perhaps a rising incidence of depression. However, this is just one factor of many which
interact which might cause depression. A serious question is whether the reactive depressions of youth will pave the way for
endogenous depression in adulthood and old age. Research is needed to determine whether youth will be predisposed to further
depressive episodes and, if so, will we be entering a new age of melancholy%
In this study, the relationship between age and depression is analyzed, looking for effects of maturity, decline, life-cycle stage, survival, and historical trend. The data are from a 1990 sample of 2,031 U.S. adults and a 1985 sample of 809 Illinois adults. The results show that depression reaches its lowest level in the middle aged, at about age 45. The fall of depression in early adulthood and rise in late life mostly reflects life-cycle gains and losses in marriage, employment, and economic well-being. Depression reaches its highest level in adults 80 years old or older, because physical dysfunction and low personal control add to personal and status losses. Malaise from poor health does not create a spurious rise of measured depression in late adulthood. However, some of the differences among age groups in depression reflect higher education in younger generations, and some reflect different rates of survival across demographic groups that also vary in their levels of depression.