Summary: Late midlife can be a powerful period of personal growth, marked by increasing self-transcendence through life storytelling. Researchers observed that people who actively reflect on and reinterpret their life experiences experience greater self-acceptance, well-being, and optimism.
Unlike the old myth of the midlife crisis, these findings suggest that aging often promotes healthier, more adaptive views of the self. The research highlights how the way we narrate our lives may shape emotional resilience and fulfillment as we grow older.
Key Facts:
- Narrative Self-Transcendence: Life story reflections in late midlife promote self-acceptance, growth, and optimism.
- Beyond the Midlife Crisis: The study challenges the myth of the midlife crisis, suggesting midlife transitions are opportunities for personal flourishing.
- Power of Interpretation: How individuals interpret and narrate their lives is more impactful than the experiences themselves.
Source: University at Buffalo
We get better as we age.
That’s the general theme of a novel study by a UB psychologist who examined narrative self-transcendence in the life stories of a group of late-midlife adults shared over eight years.
“This research supports the idea that late midlife is a time of possible positive change and that one has the power to work toward personal growth, fulfillment, understanding and acceptance,” says Hollen Reischer, visiting assistant professor of psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, and corresponding author of a new study published in the Journal of Personality.
“Late midlife is an opportunity for increased self-transcendence, especially acceptance of oneself and one’s life — and it’s associated with many positive effects,” says Reischer, an expert in narrative identity and self-transcendence.
“Self-acceptance isn’t an endorsement for the bad things that have happened, nor is it ‘just’ an attitude. It’s an active understanding of how one’s life experiences have contributed to an understanding of oneself in the present.”
Self-transcendence is a term psychologists use for the experience of connection beyond the self. It can have spiritual implications, but self-transcendence also relates to personal connections.
It’s a multifaceted process, evolving over the life course, that involves greater attention to the meaning of one’s own life and to the perspectives of and connections with others.
High self-transcendence is associated with increased well-being, better mental health, coping skills and optimism.
Narrative self-transcendence refers to the indicators or the aspects of self-transcendence that surface when people talk about their lives.
Unlike self-report measures that rely on fixed questions, narrative self-transcendence shows up in the open-ended articulation of a life story.
Rather than being limited to the choices presented to them, as with self-reporting, participants in this case provide researchers with a richer account of experiences and reflections.
Most of the time, participants are narrating stories from their lives that have little to do with self-transcendence — at least on the surface.
“The increases in narrative self-transcendence we observed suggest one path for healthier and happier aging,” says Reischer.
“What’s interesting about this narrative approach is that how people interpret their lives may be more impactful than what they experienced in life.”
Reischer’s longitudinal study is the first to investigate changes in self-transcendence in adults using life story narrative techniques.
“Aging is fraught, on individual and societal levels, so it’s important to uplift the positive aspects that are within people’s reach and understand that we have some control when it comes to well-being,” says Reischer.
“There are certain ways of interpreting and narrating our lived experiences that are associated with flourishing and making meaning.”
Reischer’s research uses data from a Northwestern University-based longitudinal study where three extensive interviews were conducted with 163 participants as each of them moved from age 56 to 65.
Reischer’s team then coded those interviews for closure (low regret) and self-actualization (realizing your full potential) based on predictive narrative themes for self-transcendence that she had identified in previous research.
Self-transcendence in late midlife is not to be confused with the myth of the midlife crisis, which arises from the uncertainty about identity and roles as people age.
“The midlife crisis myth is that people can’t cope with aging and act out in maladaptive ways,” says Reischer.
“But this research suggests that these transitions, typical of midlife, are in fact opportunities to examine one’s own identity and to shift toward adaptive perspectives that provide psychological support as one continues in life’s journey.”
About this aging and psychology research news
Author: BERT GAMBINI
Source: University at Buffalo
Contact: BERT GAMBINI – University at Buffalo
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Narrative Self-Transcendence: Decreased Regret and Increased Acceptance Over Late Midlife” by Hollen Reischer et al. Journal of Personality.
Abstract
Narrative Self-Transcendence: Decreased Regret and Increased Acceptance Over Late Midlife
Introduction
Self-transcendence—connectedness within and beyond the self—is a complex phenomenon theorized to increase with age, but evidence is mixed. This longitudinal study is the first to investigate changes in self-transcendence across late midlife using life story narratives.
Method
We tracked self-reported and narrative identity self-transcendence scores of 163 participants as they aged from M = 56.4 (SD = 0.95) to M = 64.5 (SD = 0.94). Participants were 64.4% women, 35.6% men; 55.2% White, 42.9% Black, 1.8% interracial/other; median income was $75,000–$100,000; median education was college graduate.
Results
Self-transcendence narrative themes of closure and self-actualization increased significantly over time, especially between ages 60–65, but self-reported self-transcendence did not change. These trends were not uniform; race-by-gender groups exhibited distinct trajectories over time.
Discussion
Late midlife is seen as ushering in opportunities for increased self-transcendence, especially acceptance of oneself and one’s life. We found some of the strongest empirical evidence of this phenomenon to date.
On average, US Black and White adults narrated their life stories with less regret and more satisfaction with self across late midlife.
Findings demonstrate the utility of leveraging first-person narrative identity methods to collect and analyze data about rich, complex personality constructs and highlight positive changes associated with late midlife.
