old age: Validation and functional relations ... temporarily constrained such as in old age? What are ... investment in those developmental tasks of old age (e.g.,.
Motiv Emot DOI 10.1007/s11031-007-9078-5
ORIGINAL PAPER
Obligatory and optional personal life investments in old and very old age: Validation and functional relations Ines Schindler Æ Ursula M. Staudinger
Received: 22 November 2006 / Accepted: 26 November 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract Personal life investment (PLI) measures motivational energy invested in central life domains. We distinguished between obligatory PLIs, that is, required investments, and optional PLIs, that is, investments that are possible but not necessary. Data from the Berlin Aging Study (N = 516; 70–103 years) were employed to investigate the validity of this distinction. We further explored how both PLI types relate to aging satisfaction and whether associations with validation variables and satisfaction differed depending on resource limitations (poor health). As expected based on conceptual affinities between the distinctions of obligatory-optional PLI and approachavoidance tendencies, both PLI types showed positive relations with extraversion (a correlate of approach), but only obligatory PLI was positively related to neuroticism (a correlate of avoidance). Optional PLI (not obligatory PLI)
The research reported in this article was conducted at Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany. The final manuscript was prepared while Ines Schindler was at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA. I. Schindler (&) Center for Applied Developmental Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Am Steiger 3/1, 07743 Jena, Germany e-mail: ines.schindler@uni-jena.de I. Schindler Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany I. Schindler Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 S. 1530 E., Rm 502, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA U. M. Staudinger Jacobs University Bremen (formerly International University Bremen), Bremen, Germany e-mail: sekstaudinger@jacobs-university.de
was related to higher aging satisfaction, but only in fairly healthy people. This underscores differential functional relations of optional PLI depending on resource availability. Keywords Personal life investment Approach and avoidance tendencies Resource constraints Aging satisfaction Goal striving Contextual demands
Introduction When a person’s resources (e.g., energy, time, money) are momentarily insufficient to pursue all of his or her goals, this person focuses on the goals that are most pressing. Only after meeting these obligations he or she tries to get back to the less pressing and maybe more enjoyable pursuits. But what happens if resources are permanently rather than temporarily constrained such as in old age? What are the consequences for motivational expression and well-being? As older individuals often need to cope with age-related resource losses, they are more avoidance motivated compared to younger individuals (cf. Freund and Ebner 2005; Heckhausen 1997). In spite of this increasing prevalence of avoidance motivation and uncontrollable losses, older people do not report reduced internal control beliefs (e.g., Kunzmann et al. 2002; Lachman and Weaver 1998) or reduced well-being (e.g., Diener and Suh 1998). Rather, older individuals are able to maintain engagement in goal striving and high levels of well-being by adjusting their goal system (e.g., Baltes and Baltes 1990; Brandtsta¨dter and Greve 1994; Freund and Baltes 2000; Greve and Staudinger 2006; Schulz and Heckhausen 1996; Staudinger et al. 1999). The present research aims to better understand such adjustment processes. Specifically, we examined how
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differential motivational engagement in specific life domains is associated with one type of resource constraint (poor functional health). To do so, we draw a theoretical distinction between motivational energy that is invested in meeting one’s obligations and energy that is invested in more optional pursuits (see also Schindler et al. 2006). Three central aims guided our research: First, to validate the distinction between obligatory and optional goal investments by showing that they are differentially related to global motivational and attributional dispositions (correlates of approach and avoidance tendencies, internal control beliefs). Second, to investigate the functional relations of these two forms of motivational energy in terms of aging satisfaction (one aspect of subjective well-being; e.g., Diener and Suh 1998). And third, to determine whether validity and functional relations differ depending on resource availability (as indicated by functional health status).
Obligatory and optional personal life investment (PLI) Personal life investment (PLI; Staudinger and Fleeson 1996; Staudinger et al. 1999) is defined as the amount of motivational energy (action and thought) that people report investing in ten central life domains (e.g., health, family, leisure, friends). The present study adds to previous research on PLI by investigating differences between two types of investment: obligatory PLI and optional PLI. Obligatory investments are primarily made in life domains involving age-normative challenges or demands. The individual needs to attend to these demands because the constraints inherent in a situation do not allow otherwise and/or because this is necessary to avoid, manage, or compensate for actual or imminent losses in basic resources for goal striving (e.g., basic levels of physical functioning, core social network). Therefore, obligatory PLI reflects investment in those developmental tasks of old age (e.g., Havighurst 1972) that are primarily dictated by physical changes and societal norms rather than personal values and aspirations. In contrast, optional investments are primarily made in domains that do not involve demands that push people to invest but rather allow for the expression of personal wishes. This does not imply that people do not experience age-related losses in optional domains. Rather, it is assumed that these losses can be accepted without serious negative consequences to the overall level of functioning. Our classification of life domains as obligatory is based on normative demands (in a statistical sense). Therefore, what can be considered as obligatory domains varies to some extent between ages as well as cultures and historical times. Considering the developmental context of current older cohorts in Germany, we defined obligatory PLI as investment in the domains of health, cognitive fitness,
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independence, family, life reflection, and death. Older people are not free to choose whether or not to care about their health, cognitive functioning, or independence if they want to maintain a basic level of functioning. Older individuals’ well-being depends on the maintenance of close social ties, which they mostly have with family members (e.g., Lang and Carstensen 1998). Researchers have further argued that reflecting upon one’s life as lived and dealing with one’s impeding death are central and unavoidable tasks in old age (e.g., Erikson et al. 1986; Staudinger 2001). Investments in the leisure, friends, sexuality, and occupation domains were categorized as optional PLI. People often spend their free time in the company of friends or pursuing other leisure activities. Engaging in sexual activities is left to individual preferences and opportunities in old age as this is neither normatively expected nor necessary for biological reproduction. Occupation ceases to be obligatory after retirement, which still is mandatory in Germany (at age 65). Furthermore, German culture does not push older retired individuals to do volunteer work and keep up engagement in the occupational realm that way. Validating the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI Our distinction between obligatory and optional PLI has some conceptual affinities with both the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (e.g., Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000) and the one between approach and avoidance motivation (e.g., Carver et al. 2000; Elliot et al. 1997; Elliot and Thrash 2002). Whereas optional PLI is governed by a person’s preferences and wishes, and therefore relates to intrinsic and approach motivation, obligatory PLI has a more complex motivational structure. On the one hand, meeting obligations involves responding to external pressure (extrinsic motivation) and striving to avoid losses (avoidance motivation). On the other hand, not all pursuits within obligatory life domains are the result of pressures. There is also room for expressing individual desires (i.e., for intrinsic and approach motivation). As our present data set does not contain direct assessments of either extrinsic-intrinsic or approach-avoidance motivation, we used established correlates of approach and avoidance motivation to validate our distinction. Extraversion and neuroticism as correlates of approach and avoidance tendencies Extraversion and neuroticism have been established as correlates of two biologically-based broad dimensions of personality: approach and avoidance tendency (e.g., Carver et al. 2000; Carver and White 1994; Elliot et al. 1997;
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Elliot and Thrash 2002; Heller et al. 2002; see also Schindler and Staudinger 2005). We hypothesized that individual differences in motivational orientation do not play out equally in obligatory and optional PLI. Both approach and avoidance should be dominant motivations involved in obligatory PLI, as investment in obligatory domains is required to avoid losses but also to maintain, regain, or even improve levels of functioning. Not meeting one’s obligations implies some form of punishment, whereas meeting obligations helps to maintain or improve the status quo and avoid punishment. Therefore, we hypothesized that both extraversion and neuroticism (correlates of approach and avoidance tendency) are positively related to obligatory PLI. In contrast, when individuals invest in optional domains they try to express their intrinsic interests rather than regulate or avoid losses. Research by Ebner (2005) adds some support to this argument. She found that older adults reported to focus on maintaining levels of functioning and preventing losses when it comes to obligatory domains like physical health and cognitive functioning. However, they were oriented toward gain when it comes to optional domains like leisure or friends. We thus predicted that optional PLI is positively related only to extraversion (a correlate of approach tendency). The fact that we assume convergent validity with indirect indicators of approach-avoidance motivation is not to be mistaken to say that both constructs are identical. Rather, we would like to stress that obligatory and optional PLI carry conceptual uniqueness, which makes it useful to introduce those new concepts. Approach and avoidance tendencies are typically conceptualized as personal dispositions (e.g., Elliot and Thrash 2002), which make people respond more strongly to and become more invested in events, goals, and tasks that are in line with their dispositions (e.g., Carver and White 1994). In contrast, the specific purpose of the obligatory-optional distinction is to highlight the role of developmental contexts in addition to individual dispositions (see Elliot 2006, for a similar consideration). That is, the uniqueness of this new distinction lies in the explicit consideration of whether engagement in specific pursuits is required within a given developmental context or not.
Internal control beliefs Even though we predicted differential relations with extraversion and neuroticism, we assumed that, given sufficient resources, both kinds of goal pursuit depend on one fundamental tool of action regulation: internal control beliefs. Perceived control supports efforts to attain (approach and avoidance) goals and the results of these
efforts feed back into a person’s sense of control (e.g., Bandura 1986). Thus, we predicted positive associations between internal control beliefs and both PLI types.
The role of resource constraints: Health-related differences We were also interested in differential effects of agerelated decrements in resources on obligatory and optional PLI to further validate the distinction. We chose functional health status as a direct indicator of functional losses instead of focusing on age, which is only a proxy for losses in different functional domains. We investigated healthrelated differences in (i) mean levels of obligatory and optional PLI and (ii) the associations between obligatory or optional PLI on the one hand and extraversion, neuroticism, and internal control beliefs on the other hand. (i)
Mean-level differences. Poor physical functioning implies a limited capacity to strive for and attain goals and is associated with reduced average investment (Staudinger et al. 1999). However, we expected that this reduction in PLI is limited to optional PLI. Unlike optional PLI, obligatory PLI is primarily directed at regulating functional losses and protecting the remaining resources. Thus, investments cannot be withdrawn from obligatory domains. Rather, optional investments need to be cut back in order to adapt to functional constraints. We therefore predicted that optional PLI is lower for people in poor functional health, whereas obligatory PLI is unrelated to functional health. (ii) Differential associations. Previous research has shown that the functionality of self-regulatory behaviors differs depending on the developmental context. For instance, so-called regressive coping styles showed high functionality under conditions of severe health constraints (Staudinger and Fleeson 1996). However, to our knowledge, there is no study investigating differential associations of extraversion, neuroticism, or control beliefs with goal investment depending on health status. Resource losses, such as deteriorating physical functioning, make it harder to pursue goals (cf. Freund and Riediger 2001). Experiencing difficulties or even failure when pursuing goals in turn might threaten a person’s internal control beliefs. Consequently, reducing investment in pursuits where failure is likely may be one way to protect internal control beliefs. However, obligatory life domains require investments and, thus, withdrawing motivational resources in response to difficulties is possible in optional domains but not
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in obligatory domains. At the same time, whereas healthy older people are likely to be successful in their obligatory pursuits, which reinforces their internal control beliefs, functionally impaired older adults’ obligatory investments often yield only limited success, which may undermine internal control beliefs. We therefore expected internal control beliefs to show no association with obligatory PLI in functionally impaired older adults but to be positively related to obligatory PLI in healthy older adults. In an exploratory fashion, we further tested for healthrelated differences in associations between the two PLI types and extraversion and neuroticism.
Functional relations of obligatory and optional PLI Pursuing personal goals, and in particular pursuing goals for intrinsic reasons (e.g., Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000), contributes to an individual’s level of subjective well-being (e.g., Brunstein et al. 1999; Schmuck and Sheldon 2001). But whereas approach goals are related to higher subjective well-being, avoidance goals can pose a risk to subjective well-being (e.g., Elliot et al. 1997; Emmons and Kaiser 1996). Based on such considerations we hypothesized that, overall, optional PLI (as conceptually related to intrinsic or approach motivation only) is positively related to aging satisfaction (as one possible indicator of subjective well-being) and that obligatory PLI (as conceptually related to both intrinsic or approach and extrinsic or avoidance motivation) is unrelated to satisfaction. Health-related differences in functional relations The predicted positive association between optional PLI and aging satisfaction should vary depending on a person’s health status. Different goal-related processes are pivotal when resources are limited: Agentic qualities (e.g., tenaciously pursuing goals) are less relevant and yielding qualities (e.g., adapting goals to changed circumstances, reevaluating the situation) are more relevant to the wellbeing of individuals with few resources (e.g., Brandtsta¨dter and Greve 1994; Heckhausen and Schulz 1995; Schulz and Heckhausen 1996; Wrosch et al. 2003). Previous research has shown that reduced average PLI seems to buffer the negative impact of poor health on aging satisfaction and emotional well-being: Physical constraints were associated with lower satisfaction and well-being only in people who reported high investment but not in people who reported low investment (Staudinger and Fleeson 1996; Staudinger et al. 1999). We hypothesized
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that when obligatory and optional PLI are studied separately, this finding is specific to optional PLI: Optional PLI is associated with higher aging satisfaction in fairly healthy but not in functionally highly impaired older people. In contrast, obligatory PLI is unrelated to aging satisfaction regardless of health status. We further expected that these predictions hold true when controlling for rival predictors of aging satisfaction.
Method We chose cross-sectional data from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE; for details see Baltes and Mayer 1999) to validate the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI. As these data come from a large and representative sample of old and very old adults, they are optimally suited to achieve this aim.
Participants The BASE was designed to be representative of the Western districts of Berlin. It is a heterogeneous sample of community-dwelling and institutionalized individuals that was randomly drawn from the city registration office. The sample was divided into six age groups (70–74, 75–79, 80–84, 85–89, 90–94, and 95–103 years). Each age group comprised 43 females and 43 males, resulting in a sample of N = 516 participants with a mean age of 84.9 years (SD = 8.7).
Procedure Data collection took place between 1990 and 1993. The participants were intensively studied during 14 sessions. All sessions lasted about 90 min each and mostly were conducted at the participant’s place of residence. The sessions were usually separated by at least 1 week. Trained research assistants collected the data employed here in face-to-face interviews during the multidisciplinary intake assessment and one of the psychology sessions (session 8).
Measures Most constructs in this study were measured on 5-point Likert scales. If not otherwise stated, scales were transformed to a new metric (0–100) reflecting the individual’s position on the scale as percent of the maximum possible (POMP) score (Cohen et al. 1999). On all measures, univariate outliers were identified (0–20 cases per variable) and were assigned the smallest or largest value that did not
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produce an outlier. Intercorrelations of the study variables are reported in Table 1.
Obligatory and optional PLI PLI was assessed as the amount of energy invested in terms of action and thought in ten life domains (one item per domain): health, cognitive fitness (cognition), hobbies and interests (leisure), friends and acquaintances (friends), sexuality, well-being of family members (family), occupation or occupation-like activities (occupation), independence, thinking about one’s life (life reflection), and one’s death and dying (death). For each life domain, participants were asked the same question, for instance, ‘‘How about your health? How much do you presently think about it or do something about it?’’ Obligatory PLI was computed as mean PLI in the domains health, cognition, family, independence, life reflection, and death, M = 59.7, SD = 17.0, Cronbach’s a = .67. As we wanted to rule out the potential criticism that findings for this scale are driven by including the domains of life reflection and death, we also computed a reduced four-item obligatory PLI scale to be used in control analyses, M = 63.9, SD = 18.3, Cronbach’s a = .56. Normative pressure to invest in life reflection and death is highly specific to old age. In addition, the respective items may be thought to measure rumination rather than engagement in goal pursuit. We expected that our predictions for obligatory and
Table 1 Intercorrelations of study variables
1
optional investments would hold true regardless of the specific domains included in the measures (as long as domains are accurately classified). Optional PLI was computed as mean PLI in the domains leisure, friends, sexuality, and occupation, M = 42.2, SD = 17.8, a = .48. Although this is a theory-driven categorization of domains, we wanted to obtain evidence for the empirical validity of this classification. The first author conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the present data in her dissertation (Schindler 2005) and found that a twofactor model (obligatory and optional PLI) fit the data better than a one-factor model (average PLI). In addition, it was possible to demonstrate metric factorial invariance of the two-factor model across different age groups (70–79, 80–89, 90+ years). However, one note of caution is at issue here. The demonstration of internal consistency and factorial invariance rest on the assumption that participants possess latent dispositions toward obligatory and optional PLI, that is, the PLI items are effects indicators (MacCallum and Browne 1993). This assumption does not match with the theoretical conceptualization of obligatory and optional PLI. The PLI types are indicative of the amount of effort that is currently invested in obligatory and optional life domains rather than personal dispositions, that is, the PLI items are causal indicators (MacCallum and Browne 1993). Therefore, CFA or Cronbach’s alpha theoretically are not adequate for testing the reliability of the PLI types, but merely provide some information on the covariance pattern and overlap between items.
2
3
4
5
6
7
1 Obligatory PLI 2 Optional PLI
.34***
3 Extraversion
.17***
4 Neuroticism
.20***
5 Internal control
.15**
.09*
.32***
6 Functional health
.08
.28***
.15**
-.26**
7 Aging satisfaction -.07 PLI in obligatory domain
.26***
.32***
-.45***
Health
.18***
.09*
.60***
.31*** -.02
-.12** -.02
.08
-.02 .20***
.37***
.15**
.09
.00
Cognition
.59***
.33***
.22***
.04
.14**
.07
.05
Family
.54***
.19***
.10*
.03
.04
.10*
.07
Independence
.63***
.31***
.16***
.09*
.13**
.14**
Life reflection
.70***
.21***
.16***
.17***
.16***
.01
Death
.61***
.07
Leisure
.28***
.68***
.26***
-.03
.06
.24***
.22***
Friends
.24***
.59***
.26***
.00
.08
.11*
.11*
Sexuality
.14**
.52***
.16***
-.08
.07
.27***
.22***
Occupation
.20***
.69***
.12**
.04
.03
.12**
.11*
-.09*
.31***
-.06
-.08
.05 -.05 -.32***
PLI in optional domain
* p \ .05, ** p \ .01, *** p \ .001
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Extraversion and neuroticism Extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N) were assessed with items from a German version of the NEO-FFI, which were adapted for use with very old people (cf. Baltes and Mayer 1999). Six items were selected for each dimension, E: M = 58.3, SD = 14.5, a = .64; N: M = 34.4, SD = 19.2, a = .75.
health indicators (for details see Baltes and Mayer 1999) were transformed to t-scores. The POMP scale was not considered for the health measures as some do not have a theoretical maximum. A unit-weighted composite of ADL, visual acuity, auditory acuity, grip strength, and mobility was computed as an indicator of functional health, M = 50.0, SD = 6.8, a = .70.
Results Internal control beliefs Generalized perceived control was assessed with a 14-item self-report measure developed in the BASE based on Levenson’s Control Scale (Kunzmann et al. 2002; see also Baltes and Mayer 1999). We employed the dimension of perceived personal control over desirable outcomes (internal control), which was measured as the mean across three items, M = 67.0, SD = 16.6, a = .64: ‘‘It’s up to me to arrange for all the good things in my life.’’ ‘‘I can make sure that good things come my way.’’ ‘‘When I get what I want, it is usually because I have worked hard for it.’’
Aging satisfaction Aging satisfaction was measured with five items, M = 60.9, SD = 19.1, a = .74, from the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS; cf. Baltes and Mayer 1999). Sample items include ‘‘Things keep getting worse as I get older.’’ (reverse coded) or ‘‘As I get older, things are better than I thought they would be.’’
Functional health Everyday competence was measured as the ability to independently perform five basic Activities of Daily Living (ADL): getting up from a chair, dressing, toileting, bathing or showering, and eating. Visual acuity was assessed using standard optometric procedures. Maximum distance visual acuity without glasses was measured binocularly and scored in Snellen decimal units. Auditory acuity was assessed with a Bosch ST-20-1 pure-tone audiometer, using headphones. An index of speech-range auditory acuity was computed as the average threshold (in dB) at 1.0 and 2.0 kHz for both ears. Grip strength was assessed with standardized dynamometry as maximum grip strength of the stronger hand across three measurements. Participants also reported on their subjective maximum walking distance (unable to walk—more than 5 km). All functional
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As a first step, we wanted to address potential concerns about the accuracy of our item classifications and inspected correlations of the individual PLI items (in addition to the obligatory and optional PLI scales) with the other study variables (see Table 1). Although our predictions were not exactly confirmed for every single item, the individual obligatory and optional PLI items largely showed the predicted pattern of findings: Except for PLI death, all PLI items were positively related to extraversion; none of the optional PLI items was related to neuroticism. Whereas all optional PLI items were positively related to functional health and aging satisfaction, only two obligatory PLI items were positively related to health and no obligatory PLI item was positively related to aging satisfaction (PLI death was negatively related to satisfaction). As previously mentioned, we wanted to ensure that the findings for obligatory PLI were not driven by including the domains of life reflection and death in this scale. We therefore ran the regressions to be presented next twice: One time with the full obligatory PLI scale and again with the reduced four-item scale. As the findings with the sixitem scale were for the most part replicated with the short scale, we did not include statistics for the short scale in the tables. However, we will point out the few differences that we observed when presenting the respective findings. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to determine predictors of obligatory PLI or, respectively, optional PLI, and whether associations between both PLI types and validation variables changed depending on functional health status.1 In a second regression analysis, relations between obligatory and optional PLI and aging satisfaction were determined, and interactions with health were analyzed. All regressions were run with centered independent variables. Obligatory and optional PLI (when used as independent variables) and personality variables were further divided by 10, such that the unstandardized 1
We also performed the same analyses with age instead of functional health as a rough proxy of resource loss. The findings were for the most part identical. Only the interaction between age and neuroticism that would parallel the interaction between health and neuroticism in predicting optional PLI was not significant. The results of these analyses can be obtained from the first author.
Motiv Emot Table 2 Hierarchical regression analysis: predicting obligatory PLI Effect
Intercept
1. Extraversion
Step 1
2
59.67***
59.69***
B
b
1.70**
.15**
b
B 1.79**
.15**
Neuroticism
2.25*** .26***
2.30***
.26***
Internal control
1.04*
.10*
1.20**
.12**
Functional health
3.04**
.12**
3.10**
.12**
2. Health 9 extraversion
-0.46
-.03
Health 9 neuroticism
-0.28
-.02
Health 9 internal control
2.03**
2
second step. The validation variables without the interactions (step 1) explained 10% of the variance in obligatory PLI, F(4, 508) = 14.06, p \ .001, and 16% of the variance in optional PLI, F(4, 508) = 23.84, p \ .001.
DR
.10***
.02*
R2
.10***
.12***
.14**
Note. All tolerances [ .80. N = 513 * p \ .05, ** p \ .01, *** p \ .001
Extraversion and neuroticism As expected, both extraversion and neuroticism were positively related with obligatory PLI, irrespective of whether zero-order correlations were considered (Table 1) or whether the variables were employed as rival predictors in a regression (Table 2). When optional PLI was used as the dependent variable in the regression, we found the hypothesized positive association with extraversion (Table 3). Again in line with our expectations, optional PLI was unrelated to neuroticism. This pattern of associations was also evident when inspecting zero-order correlations (Table 1).
Table 3 Hierarchical regression analysis: predicting optional PLI Effect
Intercept
Step 2
42.11***
41.61***
B 1. Extraversion Neuroticism
Internal control beliefs
1
b
3.40*** .28*** 0.77 .08
Internal control
0.02
Functional health
6.91*** .26***
2. Health 9 extraversion
.00
b
B 3.38*** 0.55 -0.05 6.92***
.27*** .06 -.01 .26***
0.48
.03
Health 9 neuroticism
-1.30*
-.10*
Health 9 internal control
-0.24
-.02
DR2 R2
.16*** .16***
Obligatory PLI showed the expected association with internal control beliefs: People who reported perceiving more control also reported higher obligatory PLI (Table 2). Contrary to our predictions, optional PLI was unrelated to internal control beliefs (Table 3). On the level of zeroorder correlations (Table 1), we found a very small but significant positive correlation between optional PLI and internal control, r = .09, p \ .05. Although this correlation was in the predicted direction, it did not hold up after controlling for rival predictors.
.01 .17***
Note. All tolerances [ .80. N = 513 * p \ .05, *** p \ .001
regression weights (B) give the POMP unit increase in the dependent variable for each 10 POMP unit increase of the independent variable.
Validating the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI In our first two analyses, we regressed obligatory PLI (Table 2) and optional PLI (Table 3) on the specified set of validation variables. We entered extraversion, neuroticism, internal control beliefs, and functional health in a first step and all possible interactions with functional health in a
Functional health as an indicator of resource constraints Our prediction regarding differential associations of obligatory and optional PLI with functional health was only partially confirmed: The six-item obligatory PLI scale was uncorrelated with health, r = .08, p = .07 (Table 1), but the reduced four-item scale was positively related to health, r = .15, p \ .01. With rival predictors included in the regression, functional health was significantly related to the full obligatory PLI scale, too (Table 2). In line with our predictions, optional PLI was higher in participants in better health, r = .28, p \ .001 (Table 1), and this findings also held true when including rival predictors in the regression (Table 3). Although obligatory PLI was not completely unrelated to functional health, the correlation between optional PLI and health was significantly larger
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Health-related differences in associations with validation variables
100
Obligatory PLI (POMP)
90 80 70
r = -.12
60
r = .21
50 40
r = .32
30 20 10 0 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Internal Control (POMP) Functional Health Good, n = 83 Average, n = 346 Poor, n = 85
Fig. 1 The association between obligatory PLI and internal control beliefs vanishes with poorer functional health status
than the correlations of either obligatory PLI scale with health, six items: z = 4.05, p \ .001; four items: z = 2.73, p \ .01.
In a second step, we included all possible interactions with health in the regressions predicting obligatory and optional PLI. This led to an additional 2% of explained variance in obligatory PLI, F(3, 505) = 3.40, p \ .05, but the 1% of additional variance explained in optional PLI was not significant, F(3, 505) = 2.03, p = .11. Of the three interactions terms, only the interaction between internal control beliefs and health significantly predicted obligatory PLI (Table 2). The interaction is shown in Fig. 1. In participants in good (t-score [ M + 1 SD), r = .32, p \ .01, or average health, r = .21, p \ .001, internal control beliefs were positively related to obligatory PLI. Internal control beliefs were unrelated to obligatory PLI in participants in very poor health (t-score \ M - 1 SD), r = -.12, ns. No such interaction between internal control beliefs and health was evident for optional PLI (Table 3). However, we obtained an unexpected significant interaction between neuroticism and health in predicting optional PLI (Table 3). Neuroticism was unrelated to optional PLI in participants in good, r = .13, ns, and average, r = -.03, ns, functional health but positively related to optional PLI in participants in poor health, r = .28, p \ .01. As the addition of
Table 4 Hierarchical regression analysis: predicting aging satisfaction Effect
Intercept
Step 1
2
3
60.86***
60.28***
60.05***
b
B 1. Obligatory PLI
b
B
-1.82***
-.16***
Optional PLI
2.44***
.23***
2.51***
.24***
1.78***
Functional health
8.89***
.31***
8.76***
.31***
6.23***
.22***
0.88
.05
0.67
.04
1.48*
.09*
1.48*
.09*
2. Health 9 obligatory PLI Health 9 optional PLI
-1.65**
b
B
-.15**
-0.95*
-.09* .17***
3. Extraversion
2.00***
.15***
Neuroticism
-3.50***
-.35***
Internal control
1.60***
.14***
Health 9 extraversion
-0.52
-.03
Health 9 neuroticism
-0.94
-.06
Health 9 internal control
-1.40*
-.09*
2
DR
.19***
.01*
.19***
R2
.19***
.20***
.39***
Note. All tolerances [ .70. N = 510. Cook’s distances were inspected to determine the global influence of each participant on the regression equation (cf. Cohen et al. 2003). Three participants had a distorting influence in this regression and were excluded. With these participants included, the health 9 optional PLI interaction is not significant in steps 2, B = 1.16, b = .07, p = .10, and 3, B = 1.12, b = .07, p = .09, and the health 9 internal control interaction is not significant, B = -0.92, b = -.06, p = .14. The significance of the other predictors remains unchanged * p \ .05, ** p \ .01, *** p \ .001
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the health interactions in step 2, overall, did not significantly add to the prediction of optional PLI this finding may need to be interpreted with caution.
Differential functional relations of obligatory and optional PLI In a final regression we predicted aging satisfaction. We first analyzed associations with obligatory PLI, optional PLI, and functional health, then included interactions between health and the PLI types in a second step, and finally introduced personality variables and their interactions with health to check the robustness of our findings. Optional PLI, obligatory PLI, and functional health together explained 19% of the variance in aging satisfaction, F(3, 506) = 38.21, p \ .001 (step 1). As expected, optional PLI was positively related to aging satisfaction when no interactions with health were included (Table 4). Contrary to our predictions, the full obligatory PLI scale was negatively related to satisfaction when optional PLI and health were statistically controlled. However, when considering the zero-order correlation between obligatory PLI and aging satisfaction, there was no relationship, r = -.07, ns, which suggests a suppression effect. Once the shared variance of obligatory and optional PLI was accounted for, what remained of obligatory PLI was negatively related to satisfaction. Moreover, the regression finding was not replicated with the short obligatory PLI
100
r = .25
A g i ng S a t i s f a c t i o n ( P O M P )
90 80 70
r = .26
60
scale, B = -0.47, b = -.04, ns, suggesting that it was the inclusion of PLI in the domain death (which is the only PLI domain that was negatively related to satisfaction; Table 1) that drove this finding. Apart from this nonsignificant association between the short obligatory PLI scale and aging satisfaction, the findings of this regression were replicated when using the short scale. Including the interactions of the PLI types with health in step 2 led to an additional increase in explained variance, R2 = .01, F(2, 504) = 4.25, p \ .05. Again in line with our expectations, the positive relation between optional PLI and satisfaction was moderated by functional health (Table 4). People in average, r = .26, p \ .001, and good health, r = .25, p \ .05, were more satisfied when they reported higher optional PLI. But optional PLI was unrelated to satisfaction in people in very poor health, r = -.04, ns (Fig. 2). As predicted, this interaction between PLI and health was specific to optional PLI. The interaction of obligatory PLI with health was not significant (Table 4). This pattern of findings was also robust when personality characteristics and their respective interactions with health were included as rival predictors in step 3, which accounted for an additional 19% of explained variance, F(6, 498) = 25.89, p \ .001. Although extraversion was positively related to satisfaction and neuroticism was negatively related to satisfaction irrespective of functional health status, they did not account for the functional relations of the PLI types with aging satisfaction. The same held true for internal control beliefs, which interacted with health in predicting aging satisfaction. In contrast to optional PLI, internal control beliefs became more strongly related to aging satisfaction with poorer health; poor health: r = .38, p \ .001; average health, r = .24, p \ .001; good health: r = .01, ns. The most important finding, however, was that the results for optional PLI were robust when controlling for extraversion and its interaction with functional health.
50
r = -.04
40 30
Discussion
20 10 0 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Optional PLI (POMP) Functional Health Good, n = 83 Average, n = 345 Poor, n = 84
Fig. 2 The association between optional PLI and aging satisfaction vanishes with poorer functional health status
The major goals of this study were to validate the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI and to demonstrate differential associations of both PLI types with aging satisfaction. These aims were met by employing extraversion and neuroticism as indirect indicators of approach and avoidance tendencies, internal control beliefs, and functional health status in the validation analyses, and by testing for differential functional relations of obligatory and optional PLI with aging satisfaction.
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Validating the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI Extraversion and neuroticism and PLI As hypothesized, obligatory PLI was positively related to extraversion and neuroticism, whereas optional PLI was positively related only to extraversion. This is consistent with the interpretation that the amount of motivational energy invested in goal strivings that respond to normative demands is associated with approach and avoidance tendencies (cf. Carver et al. 2000; Elliot and Thrash 2002), whereas optional investments are associated only with an approach tendency. Although the potential association between obligatory and optional PLI and approach and avoidance tendencies underscores the validity of the obligatory-optional distinction, the distinction of two PLI types also adds new aspects to the literature. Specifically, the obligatory and optional PLI distinction is based on a consideration of contextual demands.
Contextual demands and the potential adaptivity of avoidance motivation Our central assumption is that some demands of one’s developmental context need to be met (obligatory PLI) regardless of whether this involves avoidance or extrinsic motivation. At the same time, free resources can be invested in optional pursuits that are primarily associated with an approach focus or intrinsic motivation. The differentiating role of context has been largely neglected in previous work on approach and avoidance tendencies or goals (e.g., Elliot and Thrash 2002; Emmons and Kaiser 1996; Higgins 1997) and should be considered as an additional factor (apart from personal dispositions) in determining the regulatory focus as well as its functionality during goal striving. In fact, we would like to suggest that distinguishing between obligatory and optional investments may help to identify forms of avoidance motivation that are adaptive or at least not maladaptive. A lot of research has established that pursuing goals with an approach focus or for intrinsic reasons leads to better outcomes and higher well-being than pursing goals with an avoidance focus or for extrinsic reasons (cf. Deci and Ryan 2000; Elliot et al. 1997; Emmons and Kaiser 1996). Nevertheless, it also needs to be acknowledged that ‘‘certain tasks in negotiating the environment and our social world require avoidance motivation, and avoidance motivation is undoubtedly adaptive in some instances,’’ while at the same time ‘‘avoidance motivation is aversive, and is greatly overused in contemporary life’’ (Elliot 2006, pp. 114–115). Considering the obligatory or optional nature of tasks should
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help determine where avoidance motivation may be necessary (to some extent in obligatory domains) or overused (when pursuing optional goals). There are situations when it is better to do what is required with an avoidance focus or for extrinsic reasons than to not do it at all.
Internal control beliefs and PLI We did not obtain the predicted positive association between PLI and internal control beliefs for both PLI types. Only obligatory PLI was higher in persons who perceived more internal control, but optional PLI was unrelated to perceived control. This lack of association may be due to limited opportunities for older adults to invest in optional domains. For instance, older people have a higher probability of having outlived social network members (e.g., Wagner et al. 1999). Older widowed people with few or no friends are constrained in their possible investments in domains like sexuality, friends, or leisure (to the degree that social partners are required for leisure activities). Thus, if people do not have opportunities to engage in some behaviors, it does not matter whether they believe to be capable of engaging in them. Alternatively, it may also be that how well one is doing in meeting one’s obligations is central to whether one believes to be in control, while it does not matter that much how well optional goals are met.
Functional health as an indicator of resource constraints The validity of the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI also received some support when we investigated the effects of age-related resource constraints. Obligatory PLI was less positively related to health status than optional PLI, but was not completely unrelated to health status. This is in line with the idea that people mostly continue doing what has to be done even when resources are limited. However, as high levels of investments cannot be kept up in this situation, investments in what may be done are reduced. The present result also matches with our previous findings on the longitudinal development of obligatory and optional PLI (Schindler et al. 2006). In this publication, we considered age instead of functional health as an indicator of constrained resources, and we found that optional PLI is reduced as people get older, while obligatory PLI is maintained.
Differential associations depending on health status We found the expected differential association between obligatory PLI and internal control beliefs depending on
Motiv Emot
health status. Internal control beliefs were positively related to obligatory PLI in participants in good and fair health but unrelated to obligatory PLI in participants in poor health. This may be because older adults have to continue obligatory investments irrespective of their perceived control potential. Thus, if one is pushed to do something, it does not matter whether one feels in control. A similar argument has been made for avoidance goals, which have been found to require investment irrespective of one’s control potential (Higgins 1997). Thus, there are contextual demands (as reflected in obligatory PLI or important avoidance goals) that do not allow for much choice about whether, where, and how much to invest. Therefore, interindividual differences in internal control beliefs do not make a difference to the amount of investment when facing functional losses that push for obligatory PLI. However, the experience of loss may reduce a person’s confidence in being able to control or make up for those losses. In contrast, in the absence of severe health constraints, people experience more freedom in how to distribute their investments across different obligatory pursuits and, thus, may focus on pursuits over which they believe to have control. When exploring interactions of functional health with extraversion and neuroticism, we found that health moderated the relationship of optional PLI with neuroticism. Neuroticism was positively related to optional PLI only in older adults in poor health, but unrelated to optional PLI in those in good and fair health. The fact that some functionally highly impaired people reported high optional investments may reflect the difficulty of letting go of optional goals that have become unfeasible. Goal disengagement has been found to involve rumination (Klinger 1977), which is known to be associated with neuroticism (Trapnell and Campbell 1999). In spite of the benefits associated with letting go of unattainable goals and readapting investments to changed developmental contexts (cf. Brandtsta¨dter and Greve 1994; Schulz and Heckhausen 1996; Wrosch et al. 2003), not all older adults may be readily able to do so. But since adding the health interactions did not lead to a significant increase in explained variance, the present finding may need to be interpreted with caution.
Functional relations of obligatory and optional PLI Further supporting the usefulness of the distinction between the two PLI types, optional PLI was related to higher aging satisfaction in quite well-functioning people but not in functionally highly impaired people. As the latter typically reported lower optional PLI, we interpret the irrelevance of this PLI type to their satisfaction as
functional: Reducing investments that have been desirable when in better health but that are not presently feasible does not hinder satisfaction. To the contrary, functionally impaired people who reported high optional investments were no more satisfied with their aging than functionally impaired people who reported very low optional PLI (at the same time it should be noted that high optional PLI did not hurt the satisfaction of functionally impaired elders either). As the actual achievement of desired outcomes rather than just valuing goals or investing in goals contributes to higher well-being (cf. Brunstein et al. 1999), it seems likely that even high optional investments did not move people in very poor health closer toward their goals. Thus, they were not associated with greater satisfaction. It is also important to note that this finding was robust when extraversion and its interaction with health were included as rival approach-related predictors of aging satisfaction. Thus, the fact that optional PLI was unrelated with satisfaction under conditions of poor functional health should not be interpreted to imply that approach motivation per se is irrelevant when health resources are limited. Rather, optional investments are dispensable, and when resources are scarce, it may be better to express an approach tendency within obligatory life domains. The six-item obligatory PLI scale showed a negative association with aging satisfaction when optional PLI and health were simultaneously considered. However, the zero-order correlation between the full scale and aging satisfaction was not significant, and no associations between satisfaction and obligatory PLI were found in any analysis including the four-item scale. This means that obligatory PLI per se is not negatively related to satisfaction. Rather, the need to deal with one’s impending death, which becomes normative only in old age, probably accounted for the observed negative association. The reported findings thus support the validity of the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI: We assume that it is highly functional to master the demands of different life periods. Meeting demands, however, may not necessarily lead to higher satisfaction but rather may result in maintaining and developing resources for goal striving. Therefore, we would expect that older people are illadvised to reduce obligatory PLI and instead focus on optional PLI to achieve high levels of satisfaction. Even though this may temporarily increase satisfaction, people who cut back on obligatory PLI may run the risk of premature resource losses. This interpretation could not be tested with the present data set, but our earlier findings suggest that obligatory PLI protects resources that are also required for optional PLI: If obligatory PLI goes down, so does optional PLI (but not the other way around; Schindler et al. 2006).
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Limitations and future directions Cross-sectional data set It should be noted that we employed cross-sectional data, which does not allow us to draw conclusions about causal relationships. For instance, we believe that health has a dominant impact on optional PLI (deteriorating health leads to a reduction in optional PLI), but there may also be some impact of optional PLI on health (engaging in optional activities helps maintaining high functional health levels). Although the BASE is a longitudinal study and we have employed longitudinal PLI data in a previous publication (Schindler et al. 2006), we decided to focus on the representative cross-sectional sample in this paper. The longitudinal BASE sample is much smaller (N = 206) and is positively selected for health status (Lindenberger et al. 2002). As we are dealing with small effects, and the longitudinal survivors further did not show much change in functional health (on average -2.9 t-scores in 10 years; Schindler 2005), we are lacking the required statistical power to test the direction of causality with the longitudinal BASE data. Consequently, attempts at replicating the reported findings in the longitudinal sample, which are reported in the first author’s dissertation (Schindler 2005), were unsuccessful.
Measurement and available data The assessment of PLI had to be very brief due to time limitations in the BASE, which precluded studying the functional relations of different aspects of PLI in more detail. As the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI was made after data collection had been completed, we could not ask participants to what degree they considered their investments as obligatory or optional. The distinction between obligatory and optional PLI was therefore based on investment ratings in entire life domains rather than specific goals. We further classified different life domains as obligatory or optional by considering what is normative for the older population. Thus, it cannot be assumed that every goal in all optional life domains would be an approach goal. There may be occasional avoidance goals, depending on personal dispositions and this person’s specific context. Similarly, people can hold goals that are solely focused on approach in obligatory life domains. Our hypotheses were based on the dominant motivational orientations across obligatory and optional life domains but should not suggest that people cannot sometimes deviate from the dominant orientation. However, we expected these deviations to happen so infrequently in a large sample of older people that they would not be reflected in the interrelations of the two
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PLI types with extraversion and neuroticism. Future research should include person-specific assessments of the amount of obligatory and optional PLI. The reported associations between the PLI types and validation variables should be much stronger when considering what individuals perceive to be obligatory and optional investments rather than relying on normative assignments. As direct measures of approach and avoidance motivation were not included in the BASE, we could only use extraversion and neuroticism as established correlates of approach and avoidance tendencies. It would be desirable in future studies to directly assess approach and avoidance motivation as well as individual perceptions of what is obligatory and optional. The joint consideration of the two distinctions may help identify types of avoidance motivation that are adaptive. We would assume that some avoidance motivation in service of meeting one’s obligations does not have negative consequences for goal pursuit or well-being as long as it does not become the dominant or only regulatory focus involved in obligatory pursuits. In contrast, avoidance motivation in pursuing optional goals should always be unnecessary and have negative consequences. In addition to employing direct indicators of approach and avoidance, it would be interesting to also consider other theories that have conceptual affinities with the distinction between obligatory and optional PLI. Higgins (1997) distinguished between promotion and prevention focus (which are conceptually similar to approach and avoidance goals), which involve either the pursuit of ideal selves and the resulting sensitivity to positive outcomes or the pursuit of ought selves with the resulting sensitivity to negative outcomes. There should further be associations of obligatory and optional PLI with intrinsic (autonomous) and extrinsic (controlled) motivation, which are at the core of self-determination theory (e.g., Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000). It would be fruitful to explore connections between obligatory and optional PLI and these constructs in future studies. We would expect optional investments to be associated with intrinsic motivation, whereas obligatory investments are primarily associated with extrinsic motivation but also show some relation with intrinsic motivation, as not every investment in obligatory domains is done out of necessity. It should also be interesting to consider the joint impact of contextual factors and personal dispositions. An individuals’ ability to internalize extrinsic motivation (cf. Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000) may be highly relevant to achieving positive outcomes when dealing with obligatory demands that push for extrinsic motivation. This ability may not be relevant when investing in optional pursuits, which should involve intrinsic motivation pretty much irrespective of personal dispositions.
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Furthermore, it would be interesting to consider domainspecific assessments of control beliefs to arrive at a more detailed understanding of how control beliefs are related to PLI. Including other measures of adaptation, like psychological well-being (Ryff 1989) or mastery of developmental tasks (Havighurst 1972), would be interesting in future studies on the functionality of PLI. Although unrelated to satisfaction, obligatory PLI may contribute to mastering developmental tasks. Age specificity The reported findings are specific to older people and the context of old age. Although we assume that the relations of obligatory and optional PLI with indirect or direct measures of approach and avoidance motivation or internal control would be similar in younger age groups, this has to be tested in future studies. It would be interesting to study the relation between resource constraints, obligatory and optional PLI, and well-being in younger samples (e.g., younger adults experiencing a serious illness, single mothers working full-time while raising small children). Conclusions Considering the contextual demands that influence PLI during old and very old age has helped identify two types of PLI. Obligatory PLI is related to extraversion and neuroticism (as correlates of approach and avoidance tendencies) and is unrelated to satisfaction. Optional PLI is only related to extraversion and is linked to higher satisfaction in rather healthy but not in functionally highly impaired older adults. Based on our findings, we draw two central conclusions. First, the occurrence of avoidance motivation is a natural part of striving to meet one’s obligations and it should not be considered maladaptive as long as approach motivation is also present (which it usually seems to be). Second, even though optional PLI may not involve avoidance motivation and is related to high levels of subjective well-being, this positive relation vanishes when people are dealing with resource limitations (such as deteriorating health in old age). In these situations, cutting back optional PLI in order to focus on one’s obligations is assumed to be the adaptive response. These conclusions are in line with current models of developmental regulation (e.g., Baltes and Baltes 1990; Brandtsta¨dter and Greve 1994; Freund and Baltes 2000; Heckhausen and Schulz 1995; Staudinger et al. 1995), which propose that selectively focusing on basic needs or central goals under conditions of limited resources and reducing engagement in less central or unattainable goals is a highly functional regulatory mechanism across the life span.
Acknowledgements The Berlin Aging Study (BASE) was financially supported by two German Federal Departments: the Department of Research and Technology and the Department of Family and Senior Citizens. Institutions involved in BASE are the Free University of Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, where the study is located. BASE was directed by a Steering Committee. Members were P. B. Baltes () and J. Smith (psychology), K. U. Mayer (sociology), E. Steinhagen-Thiessen and M. Borchelt (internal medicine and geriatrics), and H. Helmchen and F. Reischies (psychiatry). For more information consult the BASE website: http://www.base-berlin.mpg.de. Parts of this article are based on Ines Schindler’s doctoral dissertation. We thank the members of the BASE Steering Committee for providing the data for this project. We are grateful to Martin Pinquart for valuable comments and suggestions regarding this research. We thank Chris Fagundes for his help in editing the final manuscript.
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