Three paths of adult development: Conservers, seekers, and achievers.

Abstract

This study examined the development of individuals whose motivations and skills led them to develop in different but equally positive ways. C. D. Ryff s (1989) scales for Environmental Mastery (EM) and Personal Growth (PG) were used to identify three configurations of positive mental health in 111 women of the Mills Longitudinal Study: Achievers, high on both scales; Conservers, high on EM, low on PG; and Seekers, high on PG, low on EM. Each pattern showed a distinctive profile of strengths on four criteria of maturity—competence, generativity, ego development, and wisdom—and each was predicted by distinctive features of positive and negative emotionality, identity processes, and change in selfcontrol across 31 years of adulthood. Identity at age 43 mediated the influence of personality at age 21 in predicting positive mental health pattern at age 60. Two positions can be identified among theorists of maturity or adult development who have been concerned with positive change in personality over the life course. One emphasizes general principles. Thus, Allport (1961) proposed a set of abstract criteria of maturity, and stage theorists like Erikson (1964) and Loevinger (1976) laid out criteria or milestones of development assumed to apply to everyone. A second position emphasizes individual differences. Buehler (Buehler & Massarik, 1968) and Jung (1971) argued that successful development is rooted in individual gifts or passions, and that development in one direction may preclude development in others. The second position has received less attention than the first, at least in research journals. Jung's theory of psychological types is elegant but perhaps too complex for successful operationalization and verification. In this article, we do not propose a comprehensive theory of individual differences in adult development. However, we distinguish positive mental health patterns in three groups of people: those who seek the security and harmony of living in accord with social norms (Conservers), those who value social recognition and achievement (Achievers), and those who seek personal knowledge and independence of social norms (Seekers). We suggest that because these individuals have different and often mutually exclusive orientations toward what constitutes a successful life, they develop different strengths.