Developmental regulation across adulthood: Primary and secondary control of age-related challenges.

TLDR

The study investigates developmental regulation across adulthood, proposing the OPS model to explain age‑related differences in primary and secondary control. Using the OPS model, the authors assessed developmental goals, expectations, control strategies, life satisfaction, and age identification in 510 adults spanning young, middle‑aged, and older groups. Older adults reported greater awareness of limited growth, focused more on age‑appropriate primary control goals, prioritized loss avoidance over gains, and displayed stronger compensatory secondary control through increased goal flexibility, life satisfaction, and identification with younger age groups.

Abstract

This study addresses developmental regulation in adults at different ages. A conceptual model of optimization in primary and secondary control across the life span (OPS model) is presented, and predictions about age differences in developmental regulation are derived. Developmental goals, expectations about goal attainment and control, control strategies, life satisfaction, and age identification were assessed in a sample of 510 young, middle-aged, and old adults. At increasing age, the participants expressed (a) greater awareness of a reduced potential for growth and control. (b) increased focus on age-appropriate goals for primary control striving, (c) more goals directed at the avoidance of developmental losses and fewer goals aimed at developmental gains, and (d) a stronger tendency for compensatory secondary control, as shown in greater goal flexibility, more satisfaction with present life, and identification with younger age groups.