Psychological well-being as a predictor of adaptive behavior in older adults

Six dimensions of psychological well-being were used to predict effective coping across three context domains. Participants rated themselves on dimensions of psychological well-being and the coping behaviors used for problems they reported in a health, financial, and isolation or loss of relationship context. For each participant, a close friend or family member also rated them along the same six dimensions to provide an alternate measure of well-being. The criteria for effective coping was based on the use of emotion-focused coping in situations perceived as uncontrollable and problem-focused coping in situations perceived as controllable. Results indicated that the personal growth dimension of psychological well-being was a significant predictor of effective coping, both across context and subjective versus alternate coping judgment. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that dimensions of well-being were both globally related to use of coping behavior across contexts, and related to coping in a context specific manner. The implications of these results for understanding the relationship between psychological well-being and coping in various situations is discussed.