Leading a meaningful life at older ages and its relationship with social engagement, prosperity, health, biology, and time use

Abstract

SignificanceRatings of the meaningfulness of life have been adopted in UK national surveys and are advocated internationally. This study demonstrates the value of a simple rating of the extent to which people feel that the things they do in life are worthwhile, by documenting positive associations with social relationships and broader social engagement, economic prosperity, mental and physical health, biomarkers, health-related behaviors, and time use. These associations were observed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, suggesting that feeling life is worthwhile contributes to subsequent well-being and human flourishing at older ages. Given the widely recognized policy importance of promoting subjective well-being at older ages, a wider adoption of worthwhile ratings in large-scale surveys would provide valuable policy-relevant evidence internationally.

An outcome-wide analysis of bidirectional associations between changes in meaningfulness of life and health, emotional, behavioural, and social factors

“…Differences in the detail with which health was assessed may be responsible for this discrepancy. It is striking that the majority of biomarkers did not predict changes in worthwhile ratings, which suggests that the cross-sectional associations previously observed may be a result of the impact of leading a meaningful life on biology rather than vice versa 17 . Nevertheless, some research indicates that interventions enhancing eudaimonic wellbeing promote biological processes such as increased expression of antiviral and antibody-related gene expression 44 .…”

“…In our previous study, we demonstrated that higher ratings of doing worthwhile things in life were associated with a wide range of social, health, and behavioural outcomes 4 years later, independent of baseline levels of these variables 17 . The present analyses add to these findings in showing that over and above baseline worthwhile ratings, increases in ratings over a 2 year period were associated with the same set of outcomes at 4 years.…”

For better or for worse mental health? The role of social networks for exogamous older couples

“…Regardless of migration background, social interactions with family and friends have been shown to be strongly linked to better mental health for the older population (Burholt et al, 2018;Cohen, 2004;Cramm et al, 2013;House et al, 1988;Shaw et al, 2007;Steptoe & Fancourt, 2019;Stokes & Moorman, 2018), consistent with the idea of linked lives (Mortimer & Shanahan, 2007). Regular social engagement with friends and family is essential to mental health for people of all ages (House et al, 1988), but the relationship of the two intensifies near retirement age or empty nest (Cattan et al, 2005) due to the reshuffling of balance toward personal life as work and child rearing obligations subside.…”

Dingle et al_Agenda for Best Practice Research in Group Singing Health and Wellbeing_Music & Science in press

“…There is room for further research on this question in relation to a range of samples, and timeframes, and using appropriate control samples. This is especially the case in light of a recent longitudinal study of 7,305 older adults which revealed that people who believe their life is filled with worthwhile activities (such as involvement in civic society, cultural activities and volunteering) experience greater wellbeing and healthier ageing (Steptoe & Fancourt, 2019).…”