Meaning in the Lives of Older Adults

This work attempts to advance our understanding of how we ashuman beings perceive, judge, and evaluate our lives, particularlyin the last stage of the life cycle. It counterbalances thepredominantly quantitative approach to meaning in life (MIL) byinterviewing older adults as they reflected on and attempted tofind purpose and value in the totality of their experiences. Theseparticipants reported that life has been and continues to bemeaningful, and they attributed their sense of meaning torelationships, agency and control, helping others, and faith. Italso investigated Quality of Life (QOL). Older adults reported thatlife has and continues to be of high quality. In fact, their QOLestimates were higher than those of a comparison sample of collegestudents. The relationship between QOL and MIL was explored. QOLestimates did not predictMIL estimates. This finding suggests thatQuality of Life and Meaning in Life were conceptually distinct forthis sample of older adults as they contemplated the inevitabilityof a finite existence and, from this perspective, reviewed the lifethey have lived, hoping to achieve a sense of what Erik Eriksoncalled integrity.