ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2019
Leading a meaningful life at older ages and its relationship with social engagement, prosperity, health, biology, and time use.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Purpose in life and c-reactive protein: An individual-participant meta-analysis of >50,000 adults.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of an ecological theory-driven health promotion program on improvement of retirement adjustment, psychological well-being, and coping strategies in Iranian retirees: a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2026Trial
- Factors contributing to self-rated health in community-dwelling independent 75-year-old Finns: a population-based cross-sectional cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Well-being therapy and sleep hygiene in a non-clinical population of adults reporting poor sleep quality and distress: A remote pilot randomized controlled study.Behavioral sleep medicine · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Age moderates the association between helping and meaning in daily life.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Hair cortisol and cortisone and psychological well-being: an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Leisure Activities in Very Old Age: Prevalence and Links to Well-Being in (Near-)Centenarians.Gerontology · 2026Article
- Staying active, staying satisfied: how subjective well-being shapes ageing after retirement.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Discordance in gender role attitudes between spouses and its relationship with the risk biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases: a couple-level analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The mediating advantage of social capital: examining the pathways from physical exercise to subjective well-being.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mindfulness Exercise and Mental Health in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Mediating Roles of Coping Self-Efficacy and Emotion Regulation.Clinical interventions in aging · 2026Article
- Article
- Flexible Goal Adjustment Predicts Well-Being Before and After Retirement.Journal of aging research · 2026Article
- Relationship between spiritual health and happiness among elderly individuals with chronic illness.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Performance and satisfaction with meaningful occupations as predictors of health-related quality of life among community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study in rural Japan.The British journal of occupational therapy · 2025Article
- Aging Attitudes Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Disabilities: Gender Differences and Predictors.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The role of purpose in life in healthy aging: implications for the Semmelweis Study and the Semmelweis-EUniWell Workplace Health Promotion Model Program.GeroScience · 2025Review
- Meaning in Life Among Aged People: A Qualitative Study of an Institutionalized Elderly Sample.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Analytic methodology for demographic variation analyses for wave 1 of the global flourishing study.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The sense that one is living a worthwhile and meaningful life is fundamental to human flourishing and subjective well-being. Here, we investigate the wider implications of feeling that the things one does in life are worthwhile with a sample of 7,304 men and women aged 50 and older (mean 67.2 y). We show that independently of age, sex, educational attainment, and socioeconomic status, higher worthwhile ratings are associated with stronger personal relationships (marriage/partnership, contact with friends), broader social engagement (involvement in civic society, cultural activity, volunteering), less loneliness, greater prosperity (wealth, income), better mental and physical health (self-rated health, depressive symptoms, chronic disease), less chronic pain, less disability, greater upper body strength, faster walking, less obesity and central adiposity, more favorable biomarker profiles (C-reactive protein, plasma fibrinogen, white blood cell count, vitamin D, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), healthier lifestyles (physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, sleep quality, not smoking), more time spent in social activities and exercising, and less time spent alone or watching television. Longitudinally over a 4-y period, worthwhile ratings predict positive changes in social, economic, health, and behavioral outcomes independently of baseline levels. Sensitivity analyses indicate that these associations are not driven by factors such as prosperity or depressive symptoms, or by outcome levels before the measurement of worthwhile ratings. The feeling that life is filled with worthwhile activities may promote healthy aging and help sustain meaningful social relationships and optimal use of time at older ages.
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Registered trials
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