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Sense of purpose predicts daily positive events and attenuates their influence on positive affect
Abstract
Sense of purpose has proven a consistent predictor of positive outcomes during adulthood. However, it remains unclear how purposeful adults respond to positive events in their daily lives. The current study examined whether sense of purpose predicted the frequency of daily positive events, as well as participants' affect on days with a positive event, across 8 days in an adult sample (n = 1959; mean age: 56 years). Sense of purpose predicted a greater frequency of daily positive events. Moreover, sense of purpose moderated the associations between daily positive events and daily positive affect; purposeful adults experienced less of an increase in positive affect both on the current day and the day following the positive event. Findings are discussed with respect to how purpose in life may serve homeostatic functions, insofar that having a life direction reduces responsivity to daily events and promote affect stability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
... A similar pattern has been shown in studies of responses to positive events in daily life. Hill, Sin, Almeida, and Burrow (2020) showed that daily reports of positive affect tended to positively vary with the daily number of positive events reported. However, for those reporting a relatively high sense of purpose in life, positive affect remained more stable across days of the study. ...
... Our findings on the relation between sense of purpose, urgency, and risk behaviors support Hypotheses 1-3, and are consistent with prior research on urgency as a precursor to risk behavior (e.g., Cyders & Smith, 2008;Smith & Cyders, 2016) and purpose as a negative correlate of impulsivity and externalizing behavior (e.g., Burrow & Spreng, 2016;Kim et al., 2020;Machell et al., 2016). Aligning with research on purpose as a potential tempering agent (Burrow & Hill, 2013;Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2020, our results show the importance of considering individual differences like purpose and urgency in relation to one another in the prediction of behavior. Because having a strong sense of purpose in life means one is behaviorally engaged and able to see how their everyday actions inform the valued, higher-order, distal goals they hold (McKnight & Kashdan, 2009;Scheier et al., 2006), it is reasonable to believe that this attention may be enough to curb the tendency of urgent individuals to engage in risky and self-destructive behaviors that may interfere with their downstream goals. ...
In this preregistered analysis of existing data, we explored whether the association between urgency—a mood-based impulsivity—and risky and self-destructive behavior engagement is moderated by a sense of purpose in life. Results indicated positive associations between positive and negative urgency and recent risk behavior, and negative associations between a sense of purpose and recent risk behavior. For over 90% of the sample, purpose evidenced significant interaction effects with both negative and positive urgency, predicting fewer past-month risk behaviors (both the total number reported and the diversity of behaviors therein). Analyses by subdomain revealed that these interaction effects were most apparent in models predicting recent self-harm and heavy alcohol use. Explanations for this pattern of results and future directions are discussed.
... Finally, we also examined daily positive events and social support provision as predictors of discrepancies, for two primary reasons. First, work with this sample (Hill et al., Under review) and previous work (Hill, Sin et al., 2020) has linked positive event occurrence to greater sense of purpose. Second, providing support for others in need may serve as one of the most likely contexts in which people have more purposeful days than expected, given past work suggesting that familial support roles are related to daily sense of purpose (Kiang, 2012), and being purposeful is theorized to involve acting in ways that move beyond self-focused aims (Damon et al., 2003). ...
... Namely, it appears that even though purposeful individuals may experience fewer stressors amid COVID-19, daily stressors hold the capacity to disrupt the planned purposeful activities, leading to discrepancies. Purposeful living though likely involves more positive experiences, and interestingly, purposeful individuals appear less emotionally reactive to those experiences (Hill, Sin et al., 2020). As such, positive events in daily life may reflect achievements toward goals, or at the least events that are unlikely to disrupt purposeful pursuits, both of which may help to reduce discrepancies. ...
Purposeful living involves planning daily life around personal pursuits. However, it is unclear whether people expect to have more purposeful days than they actually do, and which factors influence discrepancies. A pandemic is a valuable context for examining expectations, as it institutes a less predictable environment. The current studies asked a university (n = 330; Mage = 21.25 years, 77% female) and community (n = 755; Mage = 45.99 years, 89% female) sample to complete seven daily diaries during the first weeks of the COVID-19 response. Each morning, participants reported on how purposeful they expected to be, and each evening, they reported on how purposeful they felt and on daily events. Participants tended to overestimate their daily purposefulness from morning to evening, with students being more discrepant. Higher neuroticism and more stressors (both COVID-related and not) predicted greater discrepancies, while positive events and support provisions were associated with less discrepancy.
... One possible pathway through which sense of purpose might promote positive affect is through increased activity and life engagement (Scheier et al., 2006) and more frequent positive events in daily life (Hill et al., 2018b), in turn increasing life satisfaction (Cohn et al., 2009). That said, research also shows that purposeful individuals may react with smaller increases in positive affect to positive events (Hill, Sin, et al., 2020a;Hill, Sin, et al., 2020). This adds context to the activity pathway prediction by suggesting that sense of purpose could lead to more positive affect through greater engagement with positive events rather than through getting more out of them, a hypothesis that merits attention in future research. ...
Sense of purpose is seen as a catalyst for successful ageing, predicting a wide range of health outcomes and mortality. However, its role in fostering subjective well-being during old age has received less attention, especially the bidirectional nature of this relationship. The present study examined how sense of purpose predicts and is predicted by subjective well-being in this life stage. Panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 8980) were used, spanning three measurement occasions across eight years. Four subjective well-being indicators (life satisfaction, depression, positive-and negative affect) were modelled with purpose using (random-intercept) cross-lagged panel models to disentangle within-from between-person associations. We found moderate to strong correlated change and some evidence for directional associations between the constructs. Purpose predicted changes in all four subjective well-being markers, and these associations were generally stronger than the effects of subjective well-being on purpose. Within-person changes in sense of purpose predicted subsequent changes in life satisfaction and positive affect, but not in negative affect and depression. In sum, sense of purpose is associated with higher subjective well-being in old age, but efforts to maintain or increase older adults' sense of purpose may only improve positive components of subjective well-being.
... The fragility of positive affect hypothesis states that some people are more emotionally responsive to uplifts, such that they show greater gains in happiness than others (Ong & Ram, 2017). For example, people with lower well-being gain the biggest emotional benefits from uplifts compared to those with higher well-being (Bylsma et al., 2011;Grosse Rueschkamp et al., 2018;Hill et al., 2022). Because people with chronic pain have higher rates of distress than those without chronic pain, they may be more reactive to not only stressors (as predicted by the kindling hypothesis), but also to uplifts (as predicted by the fragility of affect hypothesis). ...
People with chronic pain often report greater reactivity to stress than those without pain. This finding is consistent with the kindling hypothesis, which states that continued exposure to stressors only heightens negative affect and dampens positive affect. Yet, people with chronic pain may also respond more positively to enjoyable activities, or uplifts, as well. Chronic pain is related to lower levels of well-being, and the fragility of positive affect model explains how individuals with lower levels of well-being often exhibit stronger, more positive responses to daily uplifts than their less distressed peers. Our study used the National Study of Daily Experiences to assess daily stressors, positive uplifts, and positive and negative affect across eight days among those with and without chronic pain. Participants (nChronicPain=658, nNoPain=1,075) were predominately Non-Hispanic White (91%), 56% female, and averaged 56 years old. Results revealed that people with chronic pain had lower levels of daily positive affect and higher levels of negative affect, yet the two groups did not vary in their stressor-related negative and positive affect. In contrast, having chronic pain was related to a greater increase in positive affect and greater decreases in negative affect on days with positive uplifts. Findings suggest that intervention efforts focusing on uplifts may be particularly helpful for people who report chronic pain.
... Previous investigations revealed that individuals exhibit affective responsivity to various daily experiences and events, in both affect intensity and affect bipolarity (the relationship between positive and negative affect): individually relevant experiences lead to stronger event-related affective bipolarity (Dejonckheere et al., 2021). Generally, positive life experiences determined increases in positive affect while negative experiences triggered increases in negative affect (Hill et al., 2020). However, on a closer look extant research suggests that the events-affect relationship operates also via reverted pathways: daily experiences exert an isochronous influence over both positive and negative affect (Almeida, 2005;Houben et al., 2015), i.e., negative (stressful) as well as positive events exert an impact on both positive and negative affect . ...
Our 10-day diary investigation anchored in dynamic personality theories, such as Whole Trait Theory examined (a) whether within-person variability in two broad personality traits Extraversion and Neuroticism is consistently predicted by daily events, (b) whether positive and negative affect, respectively partly mediate this relationship and (c) the lagged relationships between events, and next day variations in affect and personality. Results revealed that personality exhibited significant within-person variability, that positive and negative affect partly mediate the relationship between events and personality, affect accounting for up to 60% of the effects of events on personality. Additionally, we identified that event-affect congruency was accountable for larger effects compared to event-affect non-congruency.
... First, people with a higher sense of purpose generally experience more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, both in general and in daily life (Hill, Sin, et al., 2018;Pfund, Ratner, et al., 2021). Moreover, purposeful individuals experience less of an increase in negative affect following a stressor (Hill, Sin, et al., 2018) and less of an increase in positive affect following a TRAIT SENSE OF PURPOSE 10 positive event (Hill, Sin, et al., 2022), suggesting that sense of purpose may help promote less reactivity in daily emotions. This lower affective reactivity may also be due to how purposeful people rely on typically more effective and adaptive coping and emotion regulation strategies (Pfund, Strecher, et al., in revision;Lohani et al., 2022). ...
Sense of purpose captures the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. While this construct has illustrated its ability to robustly predict desirable outcomes—ranging from happiness to mortality—the nature of this construct remains unclear. I begin by describing different definitions and measures from the purpose literature. From there, I review the debates suggesting that it should be classified as a component of identity development, a facet of well-being, or even a virtue. In the current paper, I argue that sense of purpose could be best served when qualified as a trait, building from the eight components of defining a trait from Allport’s (1931) paper: “What is a trait of personality?”. Using this classic piece as a framework, I integrate empirical and theoretical work on purpose and personality to dive into whether sense of purpose is a trait. I conclude by discussing the challenges and implications of bolstering sense of purpose if it is best classified as a trait.
... For example, at least one longitudinal study has shown that wisdom predicts purpose in life, mastery, and subjective well-being rather than vice versa [47]. Since a sense of purpose predicts daily positive events and appears to promote affect stability [48], the upstream connection to wisdom is worthy of consideration ( Figure 2). Purpose in life is connected to lower mortality and non-communicable disease risk [49][50][51] and the consideration of longer-term consequences of behavior [52]. ...
The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place, and planet. It emphasizes the interconnected grand challenges of our time, and underscores the need for integration of biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Here, in our Viewpoint article, we revisit vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk’s contention that wisdom is central to the concept of planetary health. Our perspective is centered on the idea that practical wisdom is associated with decision-making that leads to flourishing—the vitality and fullest potential of individuals, communities, and life on the planet as a whole. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has illustrated the acute consequences of unwise and mindless leadership; yet, wisdom and mindfulness, or lack thereof, is no less consequential to grotesque biodiversity losses, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health inequalities, and social injustices. Since mindfulness is a teachable asset linked to both wisdom and flourishing, we argue that mindfulness deserves much greater attention in the context of planetary health.
... Past research has shown that people higher in positive personality traits are less perturbed by both negative and positive events Grosse Rueschkamp et al., 2020;Gunaydin et al., 2016;Hill et al., 2020). Zautra and colleagues' (2005) study linking higher Extraversion to smaller increases in event-related relationship enjoyment showed similar results. ...
Objective
Previous research shows that Neuroticism predicts exposure and affective reactivity to daily stressors (Bolger and Zuckerman, 1995). Zautra and colleagues (2005) extended this work to daily positive events. Building on these frameworks, we examined the Big Five personality traits as predictors of the occurrence and affective correlates of daily positive events.
Method
Participants in two national U.S. daily diary studies (NSDE 2: N = 1919 and NSDE Refresher: N = 778; aged 25-84) reported daily positive events, emotions specific to the events, and daily affect for 8 consecutive days.
Results
In parallel analyses in both samples, Extraversion and in the NSDE Refresher sample only Openness (but not Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, or Agreeableness) predicted more frequent positive event occurrence. All Big Five traits were associated with one or more emotional experiences (e.g., calm, proud) during positive events. Neuroticism predicted greater event-related positive affect in the NSDE 2 sample, whereas Agreeableness was related to more event-related negative affect in the NSDE Refresher sample.
Conclusions
The Big Five personality traits each provided unique information for predicting positive events in daily life. The discussion centers on potential explanations and implications for advancing the understanding of individual differences that contribute to engagement in positive experiences.
... Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they experienced calmness and excitement each day using daily diaries. Consistent with previous research (Barlow et al., 2019;Wrosch et al., 2018;Hill et al., 2020), these emotions were measured at the end of each day over the course of one week using single-item measures (0 = very slightly or not at all, 4 = extremely). Positive associations were observed across each one-day assessment interval between calmness scores (rs = .15 ...
Although the benefits of positive affect in old age have been well established, little is known about the late life salience or adaptive value of discrete positive emotions that have contrasting motivational functions. In two studies, we examined the prevalence and health consequences of individual differences in positive emotions posited to motivate a present-focused mindset that fosters rest and recovery (calmness) or a future-focused mindset that motivates pursuit of novelty and stimulation (excitement). Study 1 was based on a one-week daily diary study (n = 146) that assessed the salience of these discrete emotions in older adults (Mage = 75, SD = 6.82) relative to younger adults (Mage = 23, SD = 3.91). Results from multilevel models showed that older adults experienced higher average levels of calmness and lower levels of excitement in comparison to younger adults. Study 2 was based on a 10-year study (n = 336, Mage = 75, SD = 6.64) and examined the longitudinal health consequences of individual differences in calmness and excitement for older adults who perceived varying levels of control over their life circumstances. Results from multilevel growth models showed that calmness, but not excitement, buffered against longitudinal declines in psychological well-being (perceived stress, depressive symptoms) and physical health (physical symptoms, chronic conditions) for older adults experiencing low control circumstances. Findings inform theories of emotional aging in showing that positive emotions with disparate motivational functions become more or less salient with age and have diverging consequences for health in late life.
Sense of purpose – the feeling that one has meaningful goals and directions in life – has consistently been connected to desirable well-being outcomes. Though these associations are robust, only a paucity of research explains why this connection exists and whether it differs across the adult lifespan. In a large cross-sectional sample ( N = 1,666; age: M = 49.44, SD = 21.55), age showed a moderate positive association with sense of purpose and a large negative association with anxiety symptoms. Sense of purpose was negatively associated with anxiety and showed moderate to strong associations with how people regulate their emotions in anxiety-inducing situations. Sense of purpose had the strongest associations with adaptive emotion-regulation strategies connected to perspective broadening: When they feel anxious, people with a higher sense of purpose were more likely to find a silver lining, focus on the big picture, and remember that the stressor will not last. Furthermore, sense of purpose moderated the relationship between age and three maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies (eating/drinking to cope, expressive suppression, and distraction). In particular, higher levels of sense of purpose correlated with a stronger negative relationship between age and the use of these strategies. We discuss the findings regarding integrating the purpose and emotion-regulation literature.
Objective:
A holistic understanding of the naturalistic dynamics among physical activity, sleep, emotions, and purpose in life as part of a system reflecting wellness is key to promoting wellbeing. The main aim of this study is to examine the day-to-day dynamics within this wellness system.
Methods:
Using self-reported emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, anxiousness) and physical activity periods collected twice per day, and daily reports of sleep and purpose in life via smartphone experience-sampling, over 28 days as college students (n = 226 young adults; M = 20.2 years, SD = 1.7 years) went about their daily lives, we examined day-to-day temporal and contemporaneous dynamics using multilevel vector autoregressive models that consider the network of wellness together.
Results:
Network analyses revealed that higher physical activity on a given day predicted an increase of happiness the next day. Higher sleep quality on a given night predicted a decrease in negative emotions the next day and higher purpose in life predicted decreased negative emotions up to two days later. Nodes with the highest centrality were sadness, anxiety, and happiness in the temporal network and purpose in life, anxiety, and anger in the contemporaneous network.
Conclusions:
While the effects of sleep and physical activity on emotions and purpose in life may be shorter term, a sense of purpose in life is a critical component of wellness that can have slightly longer effects, bleeding into the next few days. High-arousal emotions and purpose in life are central to motivating people into action, which can lead to behavior change.
Purposefulness may facilitate self-regulation; however, little is known about the self-regulatory strategies that are implemented by purposeful individuals. Given the multiple regulatory challenges students face in their social and academic lives, a central aim of the current work was to consider how purposefulness and self-regulation are linked during the first semester of university. This 13-week-long study was conducted with first-semester college students (N = 256) in the United States of America to examine whether weekly fluctuations in purposefulness may be connected to the use of traditionally adaptive (problem-solving) and maladaptive (rumination and experiential avoidance) self-regulation strategies. Consistent with our hypothesis , at the within-and between-person level, higher purposefulness was associated with greater use of problem-solving, lower rumination, and lower experi-ential avoidance at the weekly level. The findings imply purposefulness is an important individual difference that may explain better or worse self-regulatory abilities.
Sense of purpose can be understood as the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Though the predictive value of this construct is well-established based on the robust research illustrating that it predicts a host of desirable cognitive, physical, and well-being benefits, the nature of sense of purpose is still under-researched. In particular, little is known regarding the extent to which this construct fluctuates within an individual and what is tied to those fluctuations. The current study addresses this gap by utilizing data from four separate studies (total N = 3,390) with lag variability to explore three primary questions. First, how much within-person variability do people exhibit in sense of purpose at the hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly level? Second, how does sense of purpose variability compare to positive and negative affect variability? Third, does dispositional sense of purpose predict short-term sense of purpose variability, and does age have a linear and/or quadratic association with sense of purpose variability? The current project finds that approximately 50-70% of the variability in sense of purpose scores occurs between-person, with the monthly reports exhibiting the least amount of within-person variability. Furthermore, the within-person variability of sense of purpose is often comparable to positive and negative affect depending on the time between measurement occasions. Finally, higher levels of dispositional sense of purpose do not appear to be strongly tied to how much variability an individual experiences in their purposefulness from one time period to next. However, depending on the amount of time between measurement occasions, higher age may be tied to experiences of variability. The discussion focuses on what these findings mean for the trait-like nature of sense of purpose, short-term sense of purpose measurement, lifespan development, and intervention efforts.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/2724
The experience of positive events is associated with increased positive affect, which can beneficially impact the physical and mental health outcomes of adolescents. Despite an increase in important life events during adolescence, little research has examined the influence of positive events on affect in this population. This study used Ecological Momentary Assessment to investigate individual differences in the effects of daily positive events on momentary positive and negative affect and event-specific positive affect among 136 adolescents ( M age = 13.03 years). Results indicated that interpersonal and independent events elicited greater event-specific positive affect than non-interpersonal and dependent events. Dependent interpersonal events were associated with the greatest positive affect compared to other combinations of event types. Gender did not moderate these effects. These findings may address the gap in the literature regarding the types of daily positive events that elicit the most positive affect in adolescents, and in turn, may enhance well-being.
Objective
Sense of purpose has been associated with greater health and well-being, even in daily contexts. However, it is unclear whether effects would hold in daily life during COVID-19, when people may have difficulty seeing a path towards their life goals.
Design
The current study investigated whether purposefulness predicted daily positive affect, negative affect, and physical symptoms. Participants (n = 831) reported on these variables during the first weeks of the COVID-19 response in North America.
Main outcome measures
Participants completed daily surveys asking them for daily positive events, stressors, positive affect, negative affect, physical symptoms, and purposefulness.
Results
Purposefulness at between- and within-person levels predicted less negative affect and physical symptoms, but more positive affect at the daily level. Between-person purposefulness interacted with positive events when predicting negative and positive affect, suggesting that purposeful people may be less reactive to positive events. However, between-person purposefulness also interacted with daily stressors, insofar that stressors predicted greater declines in positive affect for purposeful people.
Conclusion
Being a purposeful person holds positive implications for daily health and well-being, even during the pandemic context. However, purposefulness may hold some consequences unique to the COVID-19 context, which merit attention in future research.
Positive emotions and minor positive events are far more likely to occur in people's day-today lives than are negative emotions and stressors. Despite being common features of daily life, little work has been done to characterize daily positive experiences or to examine whether these experiences are related to psychological and physical well-being. This chapter first provides an overview of theoretical perspectives and previous research linking positive experiences with stress and health. Next, we propose a conceptual framework that describes constructs within the realm of "daily positive experiences," namely daily positive affect, daily positive events, and affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to positive events. The framework posits that daily positive experiences contribute to long-term health through behavioral and biological pathways, as well as by mitigating the damaging effects of stress. Readers are introduced to research methods for evaluating positive aspects of daily life. Drawing on data from the National Studies of Daily Experiences (the daily diary project of the Midlife in the United States Study), we describe the sociodemographic patterning of daily positive experiences by age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. We then present our multidisciplinary work linking between-person differences and within-person (day-today) variations in daily positive experiences to stressor reactivity, inflammation, and diurnal cortisol rhythms. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of unanswered questions and key areas for future discovery and innovation. Taken together, the study of everyday positive experiences provides important insights into health and well-being that go beyond what can be learned from focusing solely on negative experiences.
Meaning is a central feature of human life. Our overarching proposition is that self-regulation helps facilitate meaning in life. We propose that purposeful, effortful, and directive actions that regulate selfish impulses are necessary to continually develop a sense of meaning in life. We explain how self-regulatory processes map onto this process: the drive for meaning is governed by internalized standards of meaning, people monitor their experiences to ensure a fit between their experiences and standards of meaning, and strength is required for deliberative behaviors aimed at reaffirming and regaining meaning. Moreover, we outline various self-regulatory pathways to gain meaning via coherence, significance, and purpose. Finally, we suggest various ways to test and expand our model and hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record
Feeling a sense of purpose in life appears to hold consistent benefits for positive aging and well-being. As such, it is important to consider the potential factors that promote or hinder the development of purposefulness over the lifespan. For instance, it remains unclear whether early life experiences, particularly adverse ones, may hold lasting influences on whether one feels purposeful into adulthood. The current study examined whether early life adversity predicted a diminished sense of purpose in adulthood using data from participants (N = 3835) in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Reports of early life adversity were associated with lower levels of purpose in adulthood, and chronological age failed to moderate this relationship.
We examined whether longitudinal patterns of hassles and uplifts trajectories predicted mortality, using a sample of 1315 men from the VA Normative Aging Study (mean age = 65.31, SD = 7.6). In prior work, we identified different trajectory classes of hassles and uplifts exposure and intensity scores over a period of 16 years. In this study, we used the probabilities of these exposure and intensity class memberships to examine their ability to predict mortality. Men with higher probabilities of high hassle intensity trajectory class and high uplift intensity class had higher mortality risks. In a model combining the probabilities of hassle and uplift intensities, the probability of high intensity hassle class membership significantly increased the risk of mortality. This suggests that appraisals of hassles intensity are better predictors of mortality than simple exposure measures, and that uplifts have no independent effects.
Inflammation increases the risk of chronic diseases, but the links between emotional responses to daily events and inflammation are unknown. We examined individual differences in affective reactivity to daily stressors (i.e., changes in positive and negative affect in response to stressors) as predictors of inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP).
A cross-sectional sample of 872 adults from the National Study of Daily Experiences (substudy of Midlife in the United States II) reported daily stressors and affect during telephone interviews for 8 days. Blood samples were obtained at a separate clinic visit and assayed for inflammatory markers. Multilevel models estimated trait affective reactivity slopes for each participant, which were inputted into regression models to predict inflammation.
People who experienced greater decreases in positive affect on days when stressors occurred (i.e., positive affect reactivity) had elevated log IL-6, independent of demographic, physical, psychological, and behavioral factors (B = 1.12, SE = 0.45, p = .01). Heightened negative affect reactivity was associated with higher log CRP among women (p = .03) but not men (p = .57); health behaviors accounted for this association in women.
Adults who fail to maintain positive affect when faced with minor stressors in everyday life appear to have elevated levels of IL-6, a marker of inflammation. Women who experience increased negative affect when faced with minor stressors may be at particular risk of elevated inflammation. These findings add to growing evidence regarding the health implications of affective reactivity to daily stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Having a purpose in life has been cited consistently as an indicator of healthy aging for several reasons, including its potential for reducing mortality risk. In the current study, we sought to extend previous findings by examining whether purpose in life promotes longevity across the adult years, using data from the longitudinal Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) sample. Proportional-hazards models demonstrated that purposeful individuals lived longer than their counterparts did during the 14 years after the baseline assessment, even when controlling for other markers of psychological and affective well-being. Moreover, these longevity benefits did not appear to be conditional on the participants' age, how long they lived during the follow-up period, or whether they had retired from the workforce. In other words, having a purpose in life appears to widely buffer against mortality risk across the adult years.
Purpose in life predicts both health and longevity suggesting that the ability to find meaning from life's experiences, especially when confronting life's challenges, may be a mechanism underlying resilience. Having purpose in life may motivate reframing stressful situations to deal with them more productively, thereby facilitating recovery from stress and trauma. In turn, enhanced ability to recover from negative events may allow a person to achieve or maintain a feeling of greater purpose in life over time. In a large sample of adults (aged 36-84 years) from the MIDUS study (Midlife in the U.S., http://www.midus.wisc.edu/), we tested whether purpose in life was associated with better emotional recovery following exposure to negative picture stimuli indexed by the magnitude of the eyeblink startle reflex (EBR), a measure sensitive to emotional state. We differentiated between initial emotional reactivity (during stimulus presentation) and emotional recovery (occurring after stimulus offset). Greater purpose in life, assessed over two years prior, predicted better recovery from negative stimuli indexed by a smaller eyeblink after negative pictures offset, even after controlling for initial reactivity to the stimuli during the picture presentation, gender, age, trait affect, and other well-being dimensions. These data suggest a proximal mechanism by which purpose in life may afford protection from negative events and confer resilience is through enhanced automatic emotion regulation after negative emotional provocation.
Emerging data suggest that psychological and experiential factors are associated with risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but the association of purpose in life with incident AD is unknown.
To test the hypothesis that greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of AD.
Prospective, longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging.
Senior housing facilities and residences across the greater Chicago metropolitan area.
More than 900 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project.
Participants underwent baseline evaluations of purpose in life and up to 7 years of detailed annual follow-up clinical evaluations to document incident AD. In subsequent analyses, we examined the association of purpose in life with the precursor to AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and the rate of change in cognitive function.
During up to 7 years of follow-up (mean, 4.0 years), 155 of 951 persons (16.3%) developed AD. In a proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, and education, greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially reduced risk of AD (hazard ratio, 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.69; P < .001). Thus, a person with a high score on the purpose in life measure (score = 4.2, 90th percentile) was approximately 2.4 times more likely to remain free of AD than was a person with a low score (score = 3.0, 10th percentile). This association did not vary along demographic lines and persisted after the addition of terms for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, social network size, and number of chronic medical conditions. In subsequent models, purpose in life also was associated with a reduced risk of MCI (hazard ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.95; P = .02) and a slower rate of cognitive decline (mean [SE] global cognition estimate, 0.03 [0.01], P < .01).
Greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of AD and MCI in community-dwelling older persons.
Three hundred men and women at five developmental stages from young adulthood to the old-old completed measures of life attitudes and well-being. Significant age differences were found on five life attitude dimensions: Life Purpose (LP), Death Acceptance (DA), Goal Seeking (GS), Future Meaning (FM), and Existential Vacuum (EV). LP and DA increased with age; GS and FM decreased with age; EV showed a curvilinear relationship with age. Significant sex differences were found for Life Control (LC) and Will To Meaning (WM). Women viewed life as more under their control and expressed a stronger will to find meaning as compared with males. FM, LP, and LC were found to predict psychological and physical well-being; EV, GS, and DA predicted psychological and physical discomfort. Preliminary findings attest to the importance of various life attitudes in promoting health and wellness.
A theoretical model of psychological well-being that encompasses 6 distinct dimensions of wellness (Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive Relations with Others, Purpose in Life, Self-Acceptance) was tested with data from a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 1,108), aged 25 and older, who participated in telephone interviews. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the proposed 6-factor model, with a single second-order super factor. The model was superior in fit over single-factor and other artifactual models. Age and sex differences on the various well-being dimensions replicated prior findings. Comparisons with other frequently used indicators (positive and negative affect, life satisfaction) demonstrated that the latter neglect key aspects of positive functioning emphasized in theories of health and well-being.
Two studies of the relationship between pain and negative affect are presented in this article: a study of weekly fluctuations in pain and negative affect among those with arthritis and a study of daily fluctuations in pain and negative affect for participants with fibromyalgia. The roles of positive affect and mood clarity (or the ability to distinguish between different emotions) in modifying the size of the relationship between pain and negative affect were examined in both studies as a means of testing the predictions of a dynamic model of affect regulation. In both studies, the presence of positive affect reduced the size of the relationship between pain and negative affect. Also, for arthritis participants with greater mood clarity, there was less overlap in ratings of negative and positive affective states.
This study introduces the Daily Inventory of Stressful Events (DISE), an interview-based approach to the measurement of multiple aspects of daily stressors through daily telephone interviews. Using a U.S. national sample of adults aged 25 to 74 (N = 1,031), the prevalence as well as the affective and physical correlates of daily stressors are examined. Respondents had at least one daily stressor on 40 percent of the study days and multiple stressors on 11 percent of the study days. The most common class of stressors was interpersonal tension followed by work-related stressors for men and network stressors (events that occur to close others) for women. Stressors that involved danger of loss were more prevalent than stressors in which loss actually occurred. Regression analyses showed that specific types of daily stressors such as interpersonal tensions and network stressors were unique predictors of both health symptoms and mood.
The present study examined affect- self-based explanatory models of relationships between daily events and daily well-being. Twice a week for up to 10 weeks, participants described the events that occurred each day and provided measures of their daily affect, self-esteem, and depressogenic thinking. Participants also provided trait-level measures of affect, depression, and self-esteem. Measures of daily well-being representing each model covaried jointly and independently with daily negative and positive events. Positive events buffered the effects of negative events on daily self-esteem and daily depressogenic thinking, whereas there was no buffering effect for daily affect. More depressed people were more reactive to positive events, and those higher in trait PA were less reactive to negative events. Buffering effects for self-esteem were pronounced for those with lower trait self-esteem, and buffering effects for daily depressogenic adjustment were now more pronounced for those with higher trait negative affect. The results suggest that affect- and self-based models provide complementary perspectives on relationships between psychological well-being and daily events.
A decade ago, Bolger and Zuckerman (1995) incorporated personality into the study of daily life events and psychological distress. Their approach put an entirely new cast on research and theorizing in this area. In their work, they focused on the predominantly negative personality trait of Neuroticism. In this article we extend their work to include theory and measurement of positive events and indicators of well-being. Integrating these research strands offers the possibility of a comprehensive yet highly sensitive and dynamic approach to the study of emotions, stress, and health in everyday life.
Six studies examined the role of positive affect (PA) in the experience of meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 showed strong relations between measures of mood, goal appraisals, and MIL. In multivariate analyses, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL than goal appraisals. In Study 2, the most consistent predictor of the experience of meaning in a day was the PA experienced that day. Later, global MIL was predicted by average daily PA, rather than average daily MIL. Study 3 demonstrated no prospective relations between measures of MIL and PA over 2 years. In Study 4, priming positive mood concepts enhanced MIL. In Study 5, manipulated positive mood enhanced ratings of MIL for those who were not given an attributional cue for their moods. In Study 6, PA was associated with a high level of distinction between meaningful and meaningless activities. Results indicate that positive moods may predispose individuals to feel that life is meaningful. In addition, positive moods may increase sensitivity to the meaning-relevance of a situation.
This article describes a 6-item scale, the Life Engagement Test, designed to measure purpose in life, defined in terms of the extent to which a person engages in activities that are personally valued. Psychometric data are presented including information about the scale's factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant predictive validity, and norms. The data suggest that the Life Engagement Test is psychometrically sound across different gender, age, and ethnic groups and is appropriate for wider use. Discussion centers on the use of the Life Engagement Test in behavioral medicine and health psychology research and recent associations that have begun to emerge between the scale and health-relevant outcomes.
Despite widespread interest in variance in affect, basic questions remain pertaining to the relative proportions of between-person and within-person variance, the contribution of days and moments, and the reliability of these estimates. We addressed these questions by decomposing negative affect and positive affect variance across three levels (person, day, moment), and calculating reliability using a coordinated analysis of seven daily diary, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and diary-EMA hybrid studies (across studies age = 18-84 years, total Npersons = 2,103, total Nobservations = 45,065). Across studies, within-person variance was sizeable (negative affect: 45% to 66%, positive affect: 25% to 74%); in EMA more within-person variance was attributable to momentary rather than daily level. Reliability was adequate to high at all levels of analysis (within-person: .73-.91; between-person: .96-1.00) despite different items and designs. We discuss the implications of these results for the design of future intensive studies of affect variance.
The way we respond to life’s daily stressors has strong implications for our physical health. Researchers have documented the detrimental effects of initial emotional reactivity to daily stressors on future physical health outcomes but have yet to examine the effects of emotions that linger after a stressor occurs. The current study investigated how negative affect that lingers the day after a minor stressor occurs is associated with health-related outcomes. Participants (N = 1,155) in a community-based, nationwide study answered questions about daily stressors and affect across 8 consecutive days and about their physical health almost 10 years later. Multilevel models indicated that people experience heightened levels of negative affect the day after a stressor occurs. Furthermore, higher levels of lingering negative affect are associated with greater numbers of chronic conditions and worse functional limitations 10 years later. Findings suggest that affective recovery from daily stressors has unique importance for long-term physical health.
Background
Having a sense of purpose in life has been consistently demonstrated as a predictor of positive health outcomes, including less perceived stress, yet, little is known about the role of sense of purpose on stressful days.
Purpose
The current study investigated the sense of purpose as a moderator of stressor-related changes in daily physical symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect.
Methods
A subset of the Midlife in the United States study (n = 1949, mage: 56.4 years) reported their sense of purpose, along with up to eight daily assessments of stressors, affect, and physical symptoms. Multilevel models evaluated whether sense of purpose was associated with deviations in affect or physical symptom reporting on days when participants reported a stressor versus days when stressors did not occur.
Results
Sense of purpose was associated with higher daily positive affect, lower daily negative affect, and fewer daily physical symptoms. Compared with individuals who reported lower levels of purpose, those reporting higher levels encountered the same number of daily stressors, yet showed less of an increase in negative affect and physical symptoms on stressor days than on stressor-free days. Purpose did not predict changes in positive affect in response to daily stressors.
Conclusions
Findings provide evidence that a purposeful life may be characterized by lower negative affect and physical symptom reporting on stressful days.
Objectives:
The current study examined the factor structure of emotional experience across adults 34-50, 51-65, and 66-84 year olds.
Method:
Participants (N = 2,022) were asked about 14 negative and 13 positive emotions across 8 days in the National Study of Daily Experiences II study. Factor analysis computed both inter-individual factors (between-person structure of emotional experience) and intra-individual factors (factors describing emotions in daily life) for each age group.
Results:
For inter-individual variation, one positive and one negative factor captured emotions experienced for the first two age groups, but the 66 to 84-year-old adults had an additional factor for anger. For intra-individual variation, two factors (fear and sadness; anger) captured negative emotions for the first two age groups. The oldest age group had three negative factors: fear; anger (with additional sadness emotions); and sadness. Four factors captured positive emotions for the middle-aged groups and three for the oldest group; interpersonally oriented emotions (e.g. sense of belonging) were the primary sources of age differences.
Discussion:
Findings suggest that subtle age differences exist in the factor structure of daily emotional experience when comparing middle-aged and older adults.
Viewing life as purposeful is a powerful belief: in addition to positively coloring our feelings, it is associated with decreased risk of falling ill, and, ultimately, dying (Kim et al., 2013). Having valued goals infuses life with purpose (Scheier et al., 2006), suggesting that purpose is closely tied to people's self-regulation. According to Kruglanski et al. (2000), two self-regulatory processes are important: to attain our goals, we must identify what it is that we want to accomplish and how best to pursue it (assessment), and then follow through and actually do it (locomotion). Does purpose, then, emerge from moving toward one's desired outcomes, from carefully identifying and evaluating the best outcomes to pursue, or both? And could purpose be a mechanism linking people's self-regulatory tendencies to their subjective well-being? Three studies (total N = 744) showed that purpose was positively predicted by locomotion, but negatively by assessment; no interaction between locomotion and assessment was found. Moreover, purpose mediated the link between self-regulation and people's satisfaction with life. Our results imply that purpose is derived from movement and that action carries meaning.
There is robust evidence linking interindividual differences in positive affect (PA) with adaptive psychological and physical health outcomes. However, recent research has suggested that intraindividual variability or fluctuations in PA states over time may also be an important predictor of individual health outcomes. Here, we report on research that focuses on PA level and various forms of PA dynamics (variability, instability, inertia, and reactivity) in relation to health. PA level refers to the average level of positive feelings. In contrast, PA dynamics refer to short-term changes in PA that unfold over time. We discuss how consideration of both PA level and PA dynamics can provide a framework for reconciling when high PA is conducive or detrimental to health. We conclude that more work on PA dynamics is needed, especially in combination with PA level, and suggest productive questions for future inquiry in this area.
Across midlife and into old age, older adults often report lower levels of negative affect and similar if not higher levels of positive affect than relatively younger adults. Researchers have offered a simple explanation for this result: Age is related to reductions in stressors and increases in pleasurable activities that result in higher levels of well-being. The current study examines subjective reports of emotional experience assessed across 8 days in a large sample of adults (N = 2,022) ranging from 35 to 84 years old. By modeling age differences before and after adjusting for daily positive uplifts and negative stressors, this article assesses the extent to which daily events account for age differences in positive and negative affect reports. Consistent with previous research, the authors found that older age is related to lower mean levels and shorter duration of a negative emotional experience in a model only adjusting for gender, education, and ethnicity. After adjusting for daily events, however, the linear age-related effects were no longer significant. For positive affect, adjusting for daily events did not alter age-related patterns of experiencing higher mean levels and longer positive experience duration, suggesting that other factors underlie age-related increases in positive affect.
Sociometer theory asserts that self-esteem is calibrated to one's perceived relational value. Accordingly, positive feedback should boost self-esteem because it signals acceptance by others. Yet, the extent to which self-esteem is sensitive to positive feedback may depend on individuals' sense of purpose. In two studies (N = 342), we tested purpose in life as a source of self-directed and prosocial motivation and predicted that having greater purpose would lessen sensitivity to social media feedback. Study 1 revealed that the number of likes individuals received on their Facebook profile pictures was positively associated with self-esteem. Study 2 replicated these findings experimentally by manipulating the number of likes individuals received on self-photographs posted to a mock Facebook site. In both studies, links between likes and self-esteem were diminished for those with greater purpose. Implications for purpose as a moderator of the self-esteem contingencies of positive social feedback are discussed.
Having a sense of purpose in life appears valuable across life domains, though it remains unclear whether purpose also provides financial value to individuals. The current study examined sense of purpose as a predictor of concurrent and longitudinal income and net worth levels, using two waves of the MIDUS sample of adults (N = 4660 across both assessments). Participants who reported a higher sense of purpose had higher levels of household income and net worth initially, and were more likely to increase on these financial outcomes over the nine years between assessments. Interaction tests suggested some evidence of age moderation, but gender did not appear to moderate the influence of purpose on economic outcomes.
Greater increases in negative affect and greater decreases in positive affect on days stressors occur portend poorer mental and physical health years later. Although personality traits influence stressor-related affect, only neuroticism and extraversion among the Big Five personality traits have been examined in any detail. Moreover, personality traits may shape how people appraise daily stressors, yet few studies have examined how stressor-related appraisals may account for associations between personality and stressor-related affect. Two studies used participants (N = 2,022; age range: 30-84) from the National Study of Daily Experiences II to examine the associations between Big Five personality traits and stressor-related affect and how appraisals may account for these relationships. Results from Study 1 indicate that higher levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience and lower levels of neuroticism are related to less stressor-related negative affect. Only agreeableness was associated with stressor-related positive affect, such that higher levels were related to greater decreases in positive affect on days stressors occur. The second study found that stressor-related appraisals partially accounted for the significant associations between stressor-related negative affect and personality. Implications for these findings in relation to how personality may influence physical and emotional health are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
Objective:
To assess the net impact of purpose in life on all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events.
Methods:
The electronic databases PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO were systematically searched through June 2015 to identify all studies investigating the relationship between purpose in life, mortality, and cardiovascular events. Articles were selected for inclusion if, a) they were prospective, b) evaluated the association between some measure of purpose in life and all-cause mortality and/or cardiovascular events, and c) unadjusted and/or adjusted risk estimates and confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.
Results:
Ten prospective studies with a total of 136,265 participants were included in the analysis. A significant association was observed between having a higher purpose in life and reduced all-cause mortality (adjusted pooled relative risk = 0.83 [CI = 0.75-0.91], p < .001) and cardiovascular events (adjusted pooled relative risk = 0.83 [CI = 0.75-0.92], p = .001). Subgroup analyses by study country of origin, questionnaire used to measure purpose in life, age, and whether or not participants with baseline cardiovascular disease were included in the study all yielded similar results.
Conclusions:
Possessing a high sense of purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Future research should focus on mechanisms linking purpose in life to health outcomes, as well as interventions to assist individuals identified as having a low sense of purpose in life.
Accruing evidence points to the value of studying purpose in life across adolescence and emerging adulthood. Research though is needed to understand the unique role of purpose in life in predicting well-being and developmentally relevant outcomes during emerging adulthood. The current studies (total n = 669) found support for the development of a new brief measure of purpose in life using data from American and Canadian samples, while demonstrating evidence for two important findings. First, purpose in life predicted well-being during emerging adulthood, even when controlling for the Big Five personality traits. Second, purpose in life was positively associated with self-image and negatively associated with delinquency, again controlling for personality traits. Findings are discussed with respect to how studying purpose in life can help understand which individuals are more likely to experience positive transitions into adulthood.
Emerging demographic trends signal that White Americans will soon relinquish their majority status. As Whites' acclimation to an increasingly diverse society is poised to figure prominently in their adjustment, identifying sources of greater comfort with diversity is important. Three studies (N = 519) revealed evidence that purpose in life bolsters comfort with ethnic diversity among White adults. Specifically, dispositional purpose was positively related to diversity attitudes and attenuated feelings of threat resulting from viewing demographic projections of greater diversity. In addition, when primed experimentally, purpose attenuated participants' preferences for living in an ethnically homogeneous-White city, relative to a more diverse city when shown maps displaying ethno-demographic information. These effects persisted after controlling for positive affect and perceived connections to ethnic out-groups, suggesting the robust influence of purpose. Potential benefits of situating purpose as a unique resource for navigating an increasingly diverse society are discussed.
Previous research has shown that purpose in life, the belief that one's life is meaningful and goal-directed, is associated with greater engagement in self-reported physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between purpose in life and accelerometer-measured physical activity. Community volunteers (N = 104) completed measures of purpose in life and potential confounds and wore accelerometers for three consecutive days. Purpose in life was positively associated with objectively measured movement, moderate to vigorous physical activity, and with self-reported activity. These relationships were largely unchanged after controlling for potential confounds. These results suggest that purpose in life is a reliable correlate of physical activity.
This article reviews research and interventions that have grown up around a model of psychological well-being generated more than two decades ago to address neglected aspects of positive functioning such as purposeful engagement in life, realization of personal talents and capacities, and enlightened self-knowledge. The conceptual origins of this formulation are revisited and scientific products emerging from 6 thematic areas are examined: (1) how well-being changes across adult development and later life; (2) what are the personality correlates of well-being; (3) how well-being is linked with experiences in family life; (4) how well-being relates to work and other community activities; (5) what are the connections between well-being and health, including biological risk factors, and (6) via clinical and intervention studies, how psychological well-being can be promoted for ever-greater segments of society. Together, these topics illustrate flourishing interest across diverse scientific disciplines in understanding adults as striving, meaning-making, proactive organisms who are actively negotiating the challenges of life. A take-home message is that increasing evidence supports the health protective features of psychological well-being in reducing risk for disease and promoting length of life. A recurrent and increasingly important theme is resilience - the capacity to maintain or regain well-being in the face of adversity. Implications for future research and practice are considered. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose-a cognitive process that defines life goals and provides personal meaning-may help explain disparate empirical social science findings. Devoting effort and making progress toward life goals provides a significant, renewable source of engagement and meaning. Purpose offers a testable, causal system that synthesizes outcomes including life expectancy, satisfaction, and mental and physical health. These outcomes may be explained best by considering the motivation of the individual-a motivation that comes from having a purpose. We provide a detailed definition with specific hypotheses derived from a synthesis of relevant findings from social, behavioral, biological, and cognitive literatures. To illustrate the uniqueness of the purpose model, we compared purpose with competing contemporary models that offer similar predictions. Addressing the structural features unique to purpose opens opportunities to build upon existing causal models of "how and why" health and well-being develop and change over time.
Eudaimonic theories of well-being assert the importance of achieving one’s full potential through engaging in inherently meaningful endeavors. In two daily diary studies, we assessed whether reports of engagement in behaviors representative of eudaimonic theories were associated with well-being. We also examined whether eudaimonic behaviors were more strongly related to well-being than behaviors directed toward obtaining pleasure or material goods. In both studies, eudaimonic behaviors had consistently stronger relations to well-being than hedonic behaviors. Data also provided support for a temporal sequence in which eudaimonic behaviors were related to greater well-being the next day. Overall, our results suggest that “doing good” may be an important avenue by which people create meaningful and satisfying lives.
Having a sense of purpose has been discussed as a developmental asset for youth and as an outgrowth of establishing a sense of identity. Using the identity capital model as a theoretical framework, 3 studies examined purpose as a mediator in the relationship between identity and well-being among adolescents and emerging adults. In Study 1A, (n = 110), purpose commitment was positively associated with positive affect, hope, happiness among adolescents, and fully mediated associations between identity commitment and these indices of well-being. These findings were replicated in Study 1B (n = 398), with a sample of emerging adults and using different measures of well-being. In Study 2, multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses examined the role of identity and purpose in the daily lives of adolescents (n = 135). Results showed that purpose commitment fully mediated the relationship between identity and changes in daily positive and negative affect. Overall, findings suggest that cultivating a sense of purpose in life may be an important mechanism through which a stable identity contributes to well-being.
Purpose in life is thought to be associated with positive health outcomes in old age, but its association with disability is unknown.
Test the hypothesis that greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of incident disability, including impairment in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and mobility disability, among community-based older persons free of dementia.
Participants were from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a large longitudinal clinical-pathologic study of aging.
Retirement communities, senior housing facilities, and homes across the greater Chicago metropolitan area.
All participants underwent baseline assessment of purpose in life and detailed annual clinical evaluations to document incident disability.
The mean score on the purpose in life measure at baseline was 3.6 (standard deviation = 0.5, range: 2-5). In a series of proportional hazards models adjusted for age, sex, and education, greater purpose in life was associated with a reduced risk of disability in basic activities of daily living (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.60, 95% confidence interval [C1] = 0.45-0.81), instrumental activities of daily living (HR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.40-0.78), and mobility disability (HR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.44-0.84). These associations did not vary along demographic lines and persisted after the addition of terms to control for global cognition, depressive symptoms, social networks, neuroticism, income, physical frailty, vascular risk factors, and vascular diseases.
Among community-based older persons without dementia, greater purpose in life is associated with maintenance of functional status, including a reduced risk of developing impairment in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and mobility disability.