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

2. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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

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

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.

9. 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

10. Age Trajectory of Life Goals

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

12. 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

13. 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)

14. Thank you!
Contact information:
Ashley M. Holland
Lab Website: