Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: From striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses.

TLDR

Goal orientation shifts across adulthood are viewed as an adaptive mechanism to manage changing opportunities and constraints. The authors aimed to test life‑span hypotheses about goal orientations across adulthood and to examine how expected resource demands influence these orientations. They employed a multimethod design comprising four studies that combined self‑report and behavioral choice measures of cognitive and physical fitness goals. Results showed that younger adults favored growth goals, whereas older adults prioritized maintenance and loss prevention; prevention of loss was negatively linked to well‑being in younger adults, while maintenance was positively linked to well‑being in older adults, and these patterns extended to behavioral choices in studies 3 and 4.

Abstract

Using a multimethod approach, the authors conducted 4 studies to test life span hypotheses about goal orientations across adulthood. Confirming expectations, in Studies 1 and 2 younger adults reported a primary growth orientation in their goals, whereas older adults reported a stronger orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention. Orientation toward prevention of loss correlated negatively with well-being in younger adults. In older adults, orientation toward maintenance was positively associated with well-being. Studies 3 and 4 extend findings of a self-reported shift in goal orientation to the level of behavioral choice involving cognitive and physical fitness goals. Studies 3 and 4 also examine the role of expected resource demands. The shift in goal orientation is discussed as an adaptive mechanism to manage changing opportunities and constraints across adulthood.