Motivation in later life: Personal projects and well-being.
Abstract
"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.
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Activity participation frequently involves the pursuit or achievement of personal goals, thus adding to a sense of personal mastery or accomplishment.
“And finally, activity participation frequently involves the pursuit or achievement of personal goals, thus adding to a sense of personal mastery or accomplishment (Holahan 1988 ;Lawton 1993;Lawton et al. 2002 ;Warr, Butcher and Robertson 2004).”
From A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life (2011) · cites this paper as Lawton et al. 2002
A third set of related mediating factors might be the purpose or meaning of the activity, which has been shown to be relevant in the activity/wellbeing relationship in fewer studies.
“A third set of related mediating factors might be the purpose (Everard 1999) or meaning of the activity, shown to be relevant in the activity/wellbeing relationship in fewer studies (Lawton 1993;Lawton et al. 2002).”
From A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life (2011) · cites this paper as Lawton et al. 2002
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Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.41.9.954 · Cited by 5,806 · see citing works
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A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life
ADAMS, K. B., LEIBBRANDT, S., & MOON, H. (2011) · Ageing and Society · doi:10.1017/s0144686x10001091 · Cited by 773 · see citing works
Older people’s health, outdoor activity and supportiveness of neighbourhood environments
Sugiyama, T., & Ward Thompson, C. (2007) · Landscape and Urban Planning · doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.04.002 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Kelly, R. E., Wood, A. M., & Mansell, W. (2013) · International Psychogeriatrics · doi:10.1017/s1041610212001391 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“The pursuit of personal projects and goals has been found to be an important determinant of wellbeing and positive affect in older adults (Lawton et al., 2002).”
BackgroundAssociations of Age and Cancer With Individual Goal Commitment
Pinquart, M., Nixdorf-Hanchen, J. C., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2005) · Applied Developmental Science · doi:10.1207/s1532480xads0902_2 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lawton, M. P., Moss, M. S., Winter, L., & Hoffman, C.
- Affiliations
- Polisher Research Institute (US)
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 2002
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 539-547
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W4253825756
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 5.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (7r01ag011995-11)
- National Institute on Aging (AG 11995)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Human Behavior and Motivation
- Keywords
- motivation, old age, older adults, personal projects, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Affect, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Motivation
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