Chapter 7 - Psychological Well-Being in Midlife

Abstract

This chapter discusses psychological well-being in midlife. Psychological well-being during midlife has not been an explicit target of prior scientific inquiry. The formulations draw attention to developmental aspects of psychological well-being, such as how different life periods may involve distinct psychological challenges and gains. The criterion of psychological well-being entails feelings of, and striving toward, exploration and development. The desire and attempt to grow characterize self-actualizers. To understand human variation in psychological well-being, the experiential substance of people's lives for explanatory influences have been looked at. The chapter draws aspects of social psychological theory to elaborate how people give meaning to their life experiences. Rosenberg's (1979) self-concept theory, which incorporates numerous social-psychological perspectives to explicate the mechanisms whereby people derive meaning from their experiences, provided initial conceptual guidance. The theory articulates four mechanisms of self-assessment reflecting distinct ways that people construe events.