Motivation in later life: personal projects and well-being

"Personal projects," as defined by B. R. Little (1983), were elicited from 600 community residents aged 70+, representing a broad range of health and illness. Factor analysis revealed 6 types of personal projects: activities of daily living, active recreation, other-oriented activities, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychology and aging Vol. 17; no. 4; p. 539
Main Authors Lawton, M Powell, Moss, Miriam S, Winter, Laraine, Hoffman, Christine
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.12.2002
Subjects
Activities of Daily Living
Affect
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - psychology
Depression
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Motivation
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Summary:"Personal projects," as defined by B. R. Little (1983), were elicited from 600 community residents aged 70+, representing a broad range of health and illness. Factor analysis revealed 6 types of personal projects: activities of daily living, active recreation, other-oriented activities, intellectual activities, home planning, and spiritual moral activities. Background factors and health were shown to affect the number and type of projects reported. Most indices of personal projects were associated with positive affect and valuation of life. Only 1 was associated with depression. This confirms the differential association of personal projects to positive but not negative affect. Personal projects are seen as part of an open motivational system in which social position, cognitive ability, health, and positive mental health are mutually interacting members.
ISSN:0882-7974
DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.17.4.539