Does Life’s Meaning Change Through Life’s Stages?

The term “meaning in life” may implicitly suggest that the rate of meaning in life remains more or less stable through life. However, various studies suggest that, for many people, there are ups and downs in the rate of life’s sensed meaning, and that for many these ups and downs follow common patterns.

One common pattern is that people at later life stages experience more meaning than people in earlier life stages (see, e.g.,Reker 2005; Steger et al. 2009). This may conflict with the cultural preference in culture of many modern societies (unlike traditional ones) to whatever is associated with youth, and the uneasy attitude towards becoming or being old. It may also suggest that, for younger people who sense life as meaningless, things are likely to change for the better.

It is interesting that life is often sensed as more meaningful (or less meaningless) at later stages; some might have guessed, on the contrary, that as health is becoming worse, some opportunities are closed, physical abilities decline, and death is nearer people in later life stages should have sensed life as less meaningful. One of Steger et al.’s explanations is that making sense of life, and having clear purposes in life, are commonly seen as central aspects of meaning in life, and in older age people can perhaps make better sense of their experiences and purposes.

I find this explanation a bit problematic. I do not see that in older age it is easier to make sense of life and its experiences than at an earlier age. Nor does it seem to me that one’s sense of purpose (or ability to make sense of one’s purpose) at a later age is higher; if at all, I think that many have less grand purposes, and perhaps live in a less purposeful way, when older. Some studies also discuss sensed meaning in life as related to making a difference in the world or impacting it. But making a difference in the world, too, is often not enhanced in older age.

Perhaps one reason for sensing life as more meaningful at older ages is that some people in these age groups become more accepting of their life and less competitive and ambitious. They may be less perfectionist and more able to enjoy the smaller, but available, extremely valuable aspects of life. Put differently, many people, at later ages, value the available worthy aspects of life more than they did in earlier ages.

If this is indeed the case, it would suggest that valuing aspects of one’s life as meaningful is an important variable in sensing meaning in life, perhaps more important than other variables, such as coherence, purpose, or making a difference, that many contemporary psychological discussions of meaning in life emphasize. (Value is much more emphasized in the philosophical discussions of meaning in life than in the psychological ones.)

Steger et al., however, note also some limitations for their findings and mention directions for further research on their topic. One important issue is that there may be differences between those in the later stages of life and those who are extremely old (the latter may sense life as less meaningful). Likewise, there may be important differences between older people who are in good economic condition and those who are in bad ones. It is much harder to be old when one is poor.

Further, Steger et al. note that different generations may have different notions about what makes life meaningful. Many of the older people they sampled were born and educated around the 1950s and 1960s, and their notions of what makes life meaningful may be era-specific. Perhaps if similar studies would be conducted in 20 or 50 years, results would differ.

Steger et al.’s research also suggests another interesting notion. We often wonder what would enhance the feeling of meaning in life, period. But it may well be that at different stages of life different factors will best enhance life’s meaning. We should perhaps be more sensitive to varieties among age groups when discussing the experience of life’s meaning.