Abstract
In this article, we investigate psychological maturity and other eudaimonic phenomena to predict subjective well-being (SWB), as well as if age moderate the relationship between psychological maturity and SWB. To assess psychological maturity, we analyzed 223 participants’ narratives of a high point in their life, according to Kegan’s (In over our heads: the mental demands of modern life, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994) theory of adult development and the accompanying subject-object interview guide. In a multiple regression analysis, we found support for our first hypothesis that level of psychological maturity in the narratives significantly predicts SWB when controlling for other eudaimonic phenomena like meaning in life, growth motivation, and authenticity. We found some support for our second hypothesis that age moderated the relation between psychological maturity and SWB, but not in the expected direction. That is, maturity predicted SWB only for those under 60 years old and not for the older age group, but this moderating influence of age on the relation between psychological maturity and SWB was not supported in regression models with a continuous or tripartite age variable. These are novel results as psychological maturity has traditionally not been associated with well-being. We discuss our findings in relation to similar constructs such as autonomy that have traditionally been linked with SWB.
Highlights
Our inquiry begins with a contradiction in what it means to live a good life
We aim to explore the relation between psychological maturity and well-being
The findings indicated that psychological maturity was only positively related to subjective well-being (SWB) for those who were in the younger age group (b = .23, t(211) = 3.66, p < .001) and not for those in old age (b = − .01, t (211) = − .08, p = .94)
Summary
Our inquiry begins with a contradiction in what it means to live a good life. On the one hand, the cultivation of wisdom is a cultural ideal in societies around the world and throughout written history, for example, from ancient Greece to India to China (Taylor 2012). Practical wisdom is not merely a matter of thinking complexly, because complex thinking can be selfish or otherwise egoistic. Practical wisdom involves thinking humanely, that is, thinking complexly about the experiential welfare of the self and others in balance—as opposed to thinking complexly in ways that merely benefit the self (Bauer et al 2019). Humane thinking itself has a well-established tie to well-being, notably in the research on self-determination theory Kegan’s (1982, 1994) developmental theory of meaning making captures this combination of thinking complexly and thinking humanely and is used to operationalize psychological maturity of written narratives in this study. We examine the role of two of Kegan’s constructs—the socialized and self-authoring mind—among noted features of a good life in predicting subjective well-being (SWB)
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