Life satisfaction and identity structure in late middle-aged men and women.

Abstract

A total of 32 retirement-age subjects (17 men and 15 women) provided information about their lives by rating each of their identities in terms of a list of self-generated features. They also rank-ordered their currently enacted identities in terms of time spent in each and completed a life-satisfaction questionnaire. The Identities X Features matrices were analyzed by algorithms that generated a hierarchical model of identity structure for each subject based on feature ratings. The hierarchical levels of identities were combined with time-spent rankings to obtain an index of personal style, a measure that reflected the unique organization of identities for each subject. Personal style indices were then correlated with life-satisfaction scores. Results confirmed the prediction that life satisfaction in this age group is a function of the amount of time spent in identities that give expression to multiple aspects of the self.

Occupational Attachment and Met Expectations as Predictors of Retirement Adjustment of Naval Officers1

“…A factor driving the discrepant findings in the research may be differences in the level of work attachment across the samples used in these studies. For example, it may be that only those who strongly identify with a particular work role have poorer adjustment levels (Lim, 2003; Ogilvie, 1987). In addition, this attachment may occur only in certain organizational environments.…”

Contextualizing Personality Psychology

“…People are intrinsically capable of organizing their self-perceptions into categories (Linville, 1987), and these categories often correspond closely to social roles (Ogilvie, 1987). Sociologists refer to this blending of role and selfperception as a role identity (Stryker, this issue).…”

Possible Selves across the Life Span

“…From this perspective, an indi vidual's own understanding of her develop ment is viewed as a key to understanding sta bility and change across the life span [Atchley. 1982: Bengtson et al, 1985: Breytspraak, 1984: Cohler, 1982Ogilvie, 1987: Whitbourne, 1985, Harter [1983Harter [ , 1986 has also drawn attention to the need for a develop mental perspective in further explorations of the self. Only through a developmental per spective can we hope to understand how the self-concept produces its hypothesized ef fects on behavior.…”