Abstract

VILLAR, Feliciano  and  ZEA, María del Carmen. Life Goals in Young People and Healthy and Chronically Ill Older People. Pensam. psicol. [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.1, pp.53-64. ISSN 1657-8961.  https://doi.org/10.11144/Javerianacali.PPSI13-1.ovjaovja.

Objective. This study is aimed at exploring life goals in different life stages and determining the influence of age and health status on these goals. Method. Using a cross sectional study, vital goals were explored in three different samples of volunteers: young adults (78 participants), healthy older people (67 participants) and a chronically-ill older people (65 participants). Vital goals were obtained by means of open-ended questions, whose responses were content-analyzed. Results. Results showed that goals were similar in healthy and chronically-ill older people, most of whom were focused on health, and oriented to maintenance. In contrast, among young adults, most objectives were related to development and attaining new gains. Among older people, neither age nor health status significantly predicted the probability of mentioning health-related goals. Conclusion. Results suggest that age expectations have a greater influence than health circumstances on determining life goals.

Keywords : Life goals; health; aging; age norms; developmental tasks.

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