Strengths and Satisfaction Across the Adult Lifespan

• Published in: International journal of aging & human development Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 181 - 201
• Main Authors: Isaacowitz, Derek M., Vaillant, George E., Seligman, Martin E. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2003; Baywood Publishing Company, Inc; Baywood; Baywood Publishing Co., Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult Development; Adult. Elderly; Adults; Age Differences; Age Factors; Age Groups; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - psychology; Analysis of Variance; Beauty; Biological and medical sciences; Citizenship; Classification; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; Developmental psychology; Emotions; Ethnic Groups; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender Differences; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Life Satisfaction; Life span analysis; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Males; Men; Middle age; Middle Aged; Older Adults; Older people; Personal Satisfaction; Personality Traits; Philadelphia; Positive psychology; Predictor Variables; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questionnaires; Self-Assessment; Sex Factors; Strengths assessment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Universities; Well Being; Young Adults; Philadelphia; Human; Middle age; Young adult; Satisfaction; Adult; Elderly; Age; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0091-4150; 1541-3535
• DOI: 10.2190/61EJ-LDYR-Q55N-UT6E

Positive psychology has recently developed a classification of human strengths (Peterson & Seligman, in press). We aimed to evaluate these strengths by investigating the strengths and life satisfaction in three adult samples recruited from the community (young adult, middle-aged, and older adult), as well as in the surviving men of the Grant study of Harvard graduates. In general, older adults had higher levels of interpersonal and self-regulatory strengths, whereas younger adults reported higher levels of strengths related to exploring the world. Grant study men tended to report lower strength levels than older adults from the community. Among the young adults, only hope significantly predicted life satisfaction, whereas among the middle-aged individuals, the capacity for loving relationships was the only predictor. Among community-dwelling older adults, hope, citizenship, and loving relationships all positively and uniquely predicted life satisfaction, compared with loving relationships and appreciation of beauty in the Grant sample.