Abstract

This study presents longitudinal (N = 155) analyses examining relations between goal purpose, health-related control strategies, goal adjustment capacities, and physical health in older adults. Participants were asked to report their 10 most important goals across three data collection waves and their levels of goal purpose were measured across time. In addition, participants were asked to indicate whether they experience any of 17 chronic health problems or different functional limitations over the 4-year span of the study. In support of my hypotheses, goal purpose had remained stable with age and across time, while the number of goals (i.e., approach goals) displayed a significant decline. Furthermore, this study has found that it is goal purpose, and not having goals, that predicted changes in physical health in this population. Finally, the study's results suggest that the different self-regulation processes (i.e., health-related control strategies and goal reengagement) were able to predict changes in physical health in older adulthood through their association with goal purpose. It also appears that goal purpose statistically mediated the association between self-regulation processes and physical health. These findings imply that goal purpose can play an adaptive role in later life such as preventing negative changes in physical health. The implications for the pursuit of purposeful goals in old age are discussed.