Feelings Of Despair Fade With Age

The passage of time leaves a deep mark on all of us. Getting older is a game in which we seem to lose… while we win. A recent study has been interested in four dimensions of personality and how they evolve with age. Of all of them, feelings of despair were the first to diminish with age.

The four dimensions of personality that were studied in this research were generativity, stagnation, integrity of the self and despair. These four dimensions are taken from Erik Erikson’s theory of personality and refer to the extremes of two of the 8 psychosocial states proposed by Erikson. These two psychosocial states correspond to the last two stages of life

Each stage of life is characterized by a series of conflicts that we must face for our own personal development. Between the ages of 40 and 60, the conflict occurs between stagnation and generativity. While the integrity of the self and despair correspond to the vital stage from the age of 60.

We are going to see what each dimension consists of, what characterizes them and the conclusions reached by this study, carried out by a team of psychologists led by Nicky J. Newton and Elisabeth A. Wanderwater and published in the Journal of Research in Personality.

Generativity versus stagnation

Generativity is the dimension of personality that refers to the degree of active participation in building a healthy future. This dimension of the personality develops attitudes of understanding and consideration towards others, being able to see the center of problems beyond appearances and is the one that offers advice based on wisdom acquired over time.

On the contrary, stagnation refers to the lack of personal growth and development of these generative skills. It is characterized by low tolerance for frustration, poor handling of uncertainty and issues that require complex analysis.

Ego integrity versus despair

At this vital stage, the dimension of ego integrity refers to people’s resilience in the face of adversity, that is, resilience. It is characterized by feelings of satisfaction with one’s life, a starting point for the person to show good self-control.

On the contrary, the dimension of despair is linked to the lack of integrity of the ego. It is associated with feelings of despair, the meaning of meaningful life is lost and great hostility is generated towards others and towards situations that are not understood.

The investigation

The study was carried out with 166 middle-aged women, aged between 43 and 72 years. The research was carried out in four phases and covers a total of 28 years, from 1986 to 2014. The research consisted of registering the four dimensions of personality that we have already talked about, throughout these 28 years.

The data show us that the dimensions of generativity and integrity increased steadily from age 43 to age 70. On the contrary, stagnation reached its highest levels as it approached 60 years and then began a decline until 70.

Finally, the dimension of despair was the first of all to reach the highest point at the earliest ages after 50 years of age. However, feelings of despair decreased dramatically between the ages of 60 and 70.

Feelings of despair

Feelings of hopelessness and stagnation seem to recede over time, while the positive seems to stand out more as the years go by. During the last life cycle of the women in the study, feelings of despair decreased as a result of an increase in ego integrity.

Stagnation also decreased later, while generativity and integrity remained constant or increasing over time. It seems that this decrease in stagnation is also related to the integrity of the self that generates a new sense of personal development.

These results fill us with hope. It seems that a good resolution of conflicts in the last vital states can generate a considerable decrease in the feelings of despair and a significant increase in the positive dimensions of the personality. Perhaps that is why we should begin to face the stage of middle age with enthusiasm, with a deeper sense, without feelings of despair and in absolute belief.