Building sense of purpose in older adulthood: Examining the role of supportive relationships
Sara J Weston, Nathan A Lewis, Patrick L Hill
*The Journal of Positive Psychology*
Why we asked
Feeling that your life has direction is linked to health and well-being, and research on teenagers and young adults suggests that supportive people help build it. It was less clear what happens later in life. We wanted to know whether older adults’ sense of purpose and their relationships move together over time, and whether it is the quality of relationships or just how often people see each other that matters.
What we did
We used the Health and Retirement Study, a national study of older adults in the United States. About 7,000 participants answered questions about purpose and about support and strain in four relationships (spouse or partner, children, other family, and friends) at three time points, four years apart. Support meant, for example, feeling understood and able to rely on someone. Strain meant feeling criticized or let down. We fit bivariate growth models, which estimate how two things change and whether their changes go together. Every model also controlled for how often participants saw or talked to the people involved, so that we could look at the quality of relationships beyond simple contact.
What we found
People who reported more support had higher purpose at the start of the study, and people who reported more strain had lower purpose. Support and strain were related but not opposites, so someone could report both. The changes went together as well. When purpose increased, support tended to increase and strain to decrease. Family support was the exception, and that association was weaker and appeared only once we accounted for depressive symptoms.
One result surprised us. Higher purpose at baseline was associated with later declines in support from children and other family. We can only speculate here, but purposeful older adults may need more practical help from family to pursue their goals, or their goals may conflict with what family members want. Three waves of data cannot settle this.
What it means
These are associations, not evidence that support builds purpose. Still, they suggest that programs for older adults should aim at supportive relationships and not only at contact. The next study needs more waves of data.