Three hundred men and women at five developmental stages from young adulthood to the old-old completed measures of life attitudes and well-being. Significant age differences were found on five life attitude dimensions: Life Purpose (LP), Death Acceptance (DA), Goal Seeking (GS), Future Meaning (FM), and Existential Vacuum (EV). LP and DA increased with age; GS and FM decreased with age; EV showed a curvilinear relationship with age. Significant sex differences were found for Life Control (LC) and Will To Meaning (WM). Women viewed life as more under their control and expressed a stronger will to find meaning as compared with males. FM, LP, and LC were found to predict psychological and physical well-being; EV, GS, and DA predicted psychological and physical discomfort. Preliminary findings attest to the importance of various life attitudes in promoting health and wellness.

This questionnaire contains a number of statements related to different attitudes toward death. Read each statement carefully, and then decide the extent to which you agree or disagree. For example, an item might read: "Death is a friend." Indicate how well you agree or disagree by circling one of the following: SA = strongly agree; A= agree; MA= moderately agree; U= undecided; MD= moderately disagree; D=disagree; SD= strongly disagree. Note that the scales run both from strongly agree to strongly disagree and from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Four orthogonal factors were identified by principal component factor analysis: Fear of Death/Dying, Approach-Oriented Death Acceptance, Escape-Oriented Death Acceptance, and Neutral Death Acceptance. Theta estimates of the internal consistency of the factor scales ranged from fair (.60) to good (.89). An elderly sample ( n = 50) showed less fear of death and more acceptance (all three kinds of acceptance) than the middle age ( n = 50) and the young ( n = 50) samples. As predicted, Fear of Death/Dying was negatively related to happiness, but positively related to hopelessness, whereas Escape-Oriented Death Acceptance was positively related to hopelessness, thus providing some evidence of concurrent validity of the DAP.

The psychosocial model of mental health posits that late-life depression arises from the loss of self-esteem, loss of meaningful roles, loss of significant others, and diminished social contacts. This study examined the unique, combined, and interactive contribution of existential variables (personal meaning, choice/responsibleness, optimism) and traditional measures (social resources, physical health) as predictors of depression in institutionalized and community-residing older adults, average age 77.8 years. Using multiple hierarchical regression, the results showed that choice/responsibleness, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in community elderly; personal meaning, optimism, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in institutionalized elderly. In both samples, the existential variables accounted for unique variance in depression over and above that accounted for by traditional measures. The important role of existential constructs in transcending personal and social losses and feelings of depression are discussed.

This study examined how different patterns of sources of meaning in life impact the psychosocial adaptation of older adults. A total of 120 (62 women and 58 men) community-residing older adults completed self-report measures of sources of meaning in life, physical health, life satisfaction, depression, personality, existential regrets, attitudes toward aging, and attitudes toward life. Cluster analysis of sources of meaning revealed four distinct meaning orientations: self-transcendent (n = 32), collectivistic (n = 24), individualistic (n = 34), and self-preoccupied (n = 30). MANCOVA analysis of the four groups, controlling for age, marital status, education, and financial satisfaction, revealed a strong multivariate main effect for meaning orientation. No statistically significant gender and Gender × Meaning orientation interaction effects were found. Older adults, who derive meaning from self-transcendent sources, are more extraverted, open to experience, agreeable, and conscientious; perceive greater purpose and coherence in life; feel more in control in directing their lives; express a stronger desire to get more out of life; and are less depressed compared with those who derive meaning through pursuing self-serving interests without any real commitment to personal, interpersonal, or societal development. The implications of the findings for positive aging are discussed.