Age Differences in Life Goals: A Psychosocial Development Perspective Ashley M. Holland Advisors: Qiao Chu & Daniel Grühn North Carolina State University

Bucket Lists as Research Bucket Lists as subset of Life Goals Lists of things to complete before death Bucket lists typically attributed to older individuals life goals are typically broad, life-long goals typically attributed to younger individuals Lifespan Developmental Approaches to Life Goals Developmental Tasks (Havighurst,1948) Psychosocial Stages of Development (Erikson, 1959)

Age Differences in Life Goals (Nurmi,1992; Staudinger et al., 1999; Penningroth and Scott, 2012) Early Adulthood : focused, specific goals; education and knowledge acquisition (identity); family/marriage (intimacy) and future Middle Adulthood: property and their children’s lives; generativity Older Adulthood: broader, present-oriented goals (ego-integrity); Retirement and personal health, general maintenance and maintenance of social relationships (intimacy)

Impact of Imminent Death on Life Goals (Nissim et al., 2012; Chou et al, 2005; Rapkin & Fischer, 1992) Continuity of setting life goals; increased actualization of life goals Controlling death (ego- integrity) Disengagement common in older, female, and unmarried individuals Increase focus on putting affairs in order, forgiveness (ego- integrity) Maintaining positive relationships, helping others (intimacy) Healthy, married and retired individuals emphasize energetic lifestyles

The Present Study “Imagine you only have six months to live, list at least five and up to twenty things you wish to do or accomplish before you die” Used Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory as a framework to analyze age differences in life goals As one ages, one’s focus in life will shift through different aspects E.g. identity establishment, intimacy and love, guidance for future generations, and reflection

Sample N = 410 Age:18 - 87 Sex Two sources: (M = 44.35 years, SD = 16.10 years) Sex 165 (40.2%) male 233 (56.8%) female Two sources: Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 374, 91.2%) Community (N = 36, 8.8%)

Procedure Respondents were told they only had six months to live and were produced up to 20 “bucket list” items 336 of respondents produced 10+ items 4,367 total items Answers were coded into one of four categories Three coders, including the 1st author, each coded 1/3 of the data Codings were checked by the 1st author to ensure consistency.

Coding Scheme of Psychosocial Goals Identity How a person sees themselves in relation to his/her world; sense of individuality in the context of life and the future. Intimacy Achieving positive relationships with family and marital or mating partner Generativity Guiding, educating or contributing to the next generation and society Ego Integrity Feeling at peace with oneself and the world; take a positive look at one's past and current life

Age Trajectory of Life Goals

Sex Differences of Life Goals Note. *p < .001

Summary of Findings Findings were largely consistent with the Psychosocial Development Theory. Younger adults reported more identity-related life goals Older adults reported more intimacy and more ego-integrity life goals. Generative life goals were similarly present at all ages, though infrequent. Small sex differences in life goals related to intimacy, identity, and ego-integrity. Males were slightly more identity-oriented Females were slightly more intimacy and ego-integrity oriented

Applications of Findings General Conclusions Age differences in life goals are consistent with lifespan developmental theories Supports Erikson’s Psychosocial Development theory Useful for predicting how adults’ motivation and desires change over time Future Research How does chronic illness (cancer, AIDS) affect life goals? Can the bucket list data support other lifespan development theories? Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen et al., 1999) Ryff’s six-factor model of psychological well-being (Ryff, 1995)

Thank you! Contact information: Ashley M. Holland Email: amholla4@ncsu.edu Lab Website: https://adultemotion.wordpress.com/