DEAR ANNA AND AL: GIVING ADVICE INCREASES OLDER ADULTS’ SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

摘要

Many people view successful aging as an oxymoron because they associate the aging process with decline and impending death (Vaillant, 2002). However, there are ways to improve aging and to increase older adults’ well-being. This study investigated the impact of older adults giving advice to others. I believe that older adults who give advice to others will have higher subjective well-being (as measured by mental well-being, life satisfaction, and positive affect), generativity, and meaning. Furthermore, I believe meaning and generativity may mediate the relationship between giving advice and subjective well-being. In a randomized controlled intervention, members of several senior centers (N = 81) recruited to participate in a psychology study were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. The experimental group responded to letters asking for advice from community members in an activity, called the “Dear Anna and Al: Advice Column Workshop.” The active control group wrote letters detailing different parts of their daily routines and the no-treatment control group simply filled out questionnaires. Compared to participants in the active and no-treatment control groups, older adults who gave advice had improved measures of meaning, generativity, mental well-being, positive affect, and life satisfaction (ds > 0.86). These findings suggest that sense of generativity and meaning promotes increased subjective well-being in older adults.