Personal Meaning Orientations and Psychosocial Adaptation in Older Adults

This study examined how different patterns of sources of meaning inlife impact the psychosocial adaptation of older adults. A total of 120 (62 women and 58men) community-residing older adults completed self-report measures of sources ofmeaning in life, physical health, life satisfaction, depression, personality,existential regrets, attitudes toward aging, and attitudes toward life. Cluster analysisof sources of meaning revealed four distinct meaning orientations: self-transcendent (n= 32), collectivistic (n = 24), individualistic (n = 34), and self-preoccupied (n = 30).MANCOVA analysis of the four groups, controlling for age, marital status, education, andfinancial satisfaction, revealed a strong multivariate main effect for meaningorientation. No statistically significant gender and Gender × Meaning orientationinteraction effects were found. Older adults, who derive meaning from self-transcendentsources, are more extraverted, open to experience, agreeable, and conscientious;perceive greater purpose and coherence in life; feel more in control in directing theirlives; express a stronger desire to get more out of life; and are less depressedcompared with those who derive meaning through pursuing self-serving interests withoutany real commitment to personal, interpersonal, or societal development. Theimplications of the findings for positive aging are discussed