IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/geronb/v72y2017i3p425-435..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Do We Need at the End of Life? Competence, but not Autonomy, Predicts Intraindividual Fluctuations in Subjective Well-Being in Very Old Age

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas B. Neubauer
  • Oliver K. Schilling
  • Hans-Werner Wahl

Abstract

Objectives:Self-determination theory (SDT) suggests that fulfillment of the universal psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is essential for well-being of all humans. However, it is not clear whether this prediction also holds in advanced old age. The present study aims to test SDT for the two less researched needs in advanced old age: the needs for competence and autonomy.Method:A total of 111 very old adults (age range at first measurement occasion 87–97 years) were assessed up to 6 times over the course of about 4 years.Results:Competence, but not autonomy, predicted subjective well-being at the within-person level of analysis. At the between-person level, only negative affect was predicted by autonomy and competence, whereas positive affect and life satisfaction were predicted by competence only.Discussion:Results challenge the life-span universality of the needs for competence and autonomy postulated by SDT in very old adults and suggest that the high vulnerability in this life phase may change the importance of these needs for well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas B. Neubauer & Oliver K. Schilling & Hans-Werner Wahl, 2017. "What Do We Need at the End of Life? Competence, but not Autonomy, Predicts Intraindividual Fluctuations in Subjective Well-Being in Very Old Age," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(3), pages 425-435.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:72:y:2017:i:3:p:425-435.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbv052
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Hofer & Holger Busch & Florian Kiessling, 2008. "Individual Pathways to Life Satisfaction: The Significance of Traits and Motives," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 503-520, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alica Bucher & Andreas B. Neubauer & Andreas Voss & Carolin Oetzbach, 2019. "Together is Better: Higher Committed Relationships Increase Life Satisfaction and Reduce Loneliness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(8), pages 2445-2469, December.
    2. Jolene van der Kaap-Deeder & Branko Vermote & Joachim Waterschoot & Bart Soenens & Sofie Morbée & Maarten Vansteenkiste, 2022. "The role of ego integrity and despair in older adults’ well-being during the COVID-19 crisis: the mediating role of need-based experiences," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 117-129, March.
    3. Elvira Lara & Natalia Martín-María & Anna K. Forsman & Johanna Cresswell-Smith & Valeria Donisi & Marian Ådnanes & Jannike Kaasbøll & Line Melby & Johanna Nordmyr & Linda Nyholm & Laura Rabbi & France, 2020. "Understanding the Multi-Dimensional Mental Well-Being in Late Life: Evidence from the Perspective of the Oldest Old Population," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 465-484, February.
    4. Marina Näsman & Fredrica Nyqvist & Mikael Nygård, 2022. "Disentangling the Concept of Well-Being in Very Old Age Using Rodgers’ Evolutionary Concept Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 3101-3126, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Radityo Putro Handrito & Hendrik Slabbinck & Johanna Vanderstraeten, 2023. "Stuck in short-term, daily operations, or not?: Unraveling SME’s long-term orientation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1723-1745, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:72:y:2017:i:3:p:425-435.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.