Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences

cite as: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8, 1514–1525
doi:10.1093/geronb/gby017
Advance Access publication February 14, 2018

Special Article

Early and Midlife Predictors of Wisdom and Subjective

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Well-Being in Old Age
Monika Ardelt, PhD1, Kathryn R. Gerlach, MA1, and George E. Vaillant, MD2
Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville. 2Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts
1

General Hospital, Boston.

Address correspondence to Monika Ardelt, PhD, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, PO Box 117330,
Gainesville, FL 32611–7330. E-mail: ardelt@ufl.edu

Received: June 20, 2017; Editorial Decision Date: January 25, 2018

Decision Editor: Deborah Carr, PhD

Abstract
Objectives:  We explored whether wisdom and well-being in old age are the result of early personality traits related to per-
sonality growth or personality adjustment, respectively, or successful human development as outlined by Erikson’s stage
theory and the life course paradigm.
Method:  Structural equation models were applied to analyze 60-year longitudinal data of 98 white male Harvard gradu-
ates born between 1915 and 1924. Different sets of judges rated the men’s childhood and adolescence, early adult person-
ality, and midlife generativity. Items measuring wisdom and well-being in old age were self-assessed.
Results:  Although wisdom and subjective well-being at age 80 were positively correlated, early life predictors differed.
Openness to experiences in early adulthood predicted wisdom 60  years later, whereas greater emotional stability and
extraversion predicted subjective well-being. Additionally, old age wisdom could be traced back to psychosocial growth
throughout life, facilitated by a supportive childhood, adolescent competence, emotional stability in early adulthood, and
generativity at midlife.
Discussion:  Personality traits indicative of personality adjustment or growth differentially predict late-life well-being and
wisdom. Yet a balance between personality adjustment and growth, aided by social support and competence during the
formative years, might be required to promote wisdom development throughout life.
Keywords:  Longitudinal data, Personality adjustment, Personality growth, Psychosocial development, Social support, Structural equation
model, Successful aging

Elder’s (1994) life course paradigm states that human
development is a lifelong process that is shaped by social
context, the interconnectedness of lives, and human agency.
Similarly, Erikson’s (1963) stage model of psychosocial
development divides the life course into a series of eight
developmental tasks or crises, whose successful resolutions
cumulates in wisdom. From these perspectives, wisdom and
subjective well-being in old age are the result of cumulative
successful human development as it unfolds across the life
course. Alternatively, old age wisdom and well-being could
be predicted by enduring personality traits that already
emerge in early adulthood. Although several studies have
found a positive correlation between wisdom and well-
being in old age (Ardelt, 2003; Ardelt & Edwards, 2016;
Ardelt & Jeste, in press; Le, 2011), early personality predic-
tors of wisdom and well-being might differ.
The purpose of the current study was to test whether
wisdom and well-being at age 80 could be predicted by
(a) young adult personality traits or (b) a model of suc-
cessful human development, using retrospective data from

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Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
childhood and 60-year prospective longitudinal data from
young adulthood to old age of Harvard-educated white
men. If wisdom and well-being in old age are the result of
early personality traits, psychotherapy and psychological
interventions that target personality characteristics might
also increase wisdom and well-being (Roberts et al., 2017).
If, however, wisdom and well-being are due to successful
human development, early childhood interventions might
plant the “seeds of wisdom” that bear fruits later in life.
Definition and Operationalization of
Subjective Well-Being and Wisdom
Subjective well-being is defined and operationalized as gen-
eral life satisfaction and a positive overall evaluation of life,
emphasizing a relatively stable cognitive orientation toward
life rather than less stable emotional states (George, 2010).
Wisdom has been defined by contemporary researchers
in a variety of ways (Staudinger & Glück, 2011). These
include cognitive-focused conceptions, such as wisdom-
related knowledge in the fundamental pragmatics of
life (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000); integrative conceptions
that combine cognitive and affective components, such
as “deep accurate insight and understanding of oneself
and the central existential issues of life, plus skillful ben-
evolent responsiveness” (Walsh, 2015, p.  282); and non-
cognitive conceptions, such as the combination of critical
life experiences, emotional regulation, reflectiveness/rem-
iniscence, openness to experience, and humor (Webster,
2003) and self-transcendence (Levenson, Jennings, Aldwin,
& Shiraishi, 2005). We conceptualize personal wisdom as
an integration of cognitive, reflective, and compassionate
(affective) personality characteristics (Ardelt, 2003).
The cognitive element refers to an individual’s ability
to understand life, grasping the deeper significance of phe-
nomena and events. In particular, this entails being aware of
positive and negative aspects of human nature, recognizing
the limits of knowledge, and being able to make important
decisions despite life’s unpredictability and uncertainty. To
reach this insight requires the reflective wisdom dimension,
defined as reflective thinking and self-reflection to perceive
phenomena and events from multiple perspectives. Mindful
reflection reduces self-centeredness, lessens the tendency to
direct blame outwards when circumstances turn unpleas-
ant, and increases insight into one’s own and other people’s
motives and behavior, which results in the realization of a
common humanity and fosters the compassionate wisdom
dimension. The compassionate dimension refers to sym-
pathy and compassion for all beings and the motivation to
act on these emotions to enhance others’ well-being.
Personality Adjustment, Personality Growth,
Wisdom, and Well-Being
Staudinger and colleagues (Staudinger & Kunzmann, 2005;
Wink & Staudinger, 2016) advanced the notion that posi-
tive human development consists of two distinct pathways:
1515
personality adjustment and personality growth. Personality
adjustment is a form of socialization toward society’s roles,
norms, and expectations that helps individuals to func-
tion effectively and successfully in society and, therefore,
enhances subjective well-being. The personality traits of
emotional stability (the reverse of neuroticism), conscien-
tiousness, and agreeableness in the “Big Five” factor theory
of personality (Costa & McCrae, 1992) are expected to
aid in the process of personality adjustment with possible
short-term and long-term beneficial effects on well-being.
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Personality growth, by contrast, goes beyond personal-
ity adjustment and requires a deep understanding of life,
self-insight, self-transcendence expressed as concern for the
well-being of others, tolerance of ambiguity, and striving
toward wisdom (Staudinger & Kunzmann, 2005). Rather
than simply adjusting to societal norms, individuals who
grow in personality might challenge norms and social
structures that perpetuate social injustice, and this chal-
lenging would not necessarily contribute to greater well-
being. Among the “Big Five” personality traits, openness to
experiences is predicted to foster personality growth.
Several studies of the Big Five personality traits (e.g.,
DeYoung, 2006; Digman, 1997) have found two higher-
order factors, distinguishing between stability/socialization
(emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness)
and plasticity/personal growth (openness to experiences
and extraversion), which correspond to the distinction
between personality adjustment and growth (with the
exception of extraversion). Personality traits related to
adjustment are associated with conformity and less open-
ness to change but, contrary to the model of personality
adjustment and growth, also seem to foster self-transcen-
dence and benevolence rather than self-enhancement val-
ues. Conversely, individuals characterized by openness and
extraversion appear to value self-direction and stimulation
rather than conformity, tradition, and security but also
hedonism, achievement, and power (Vecchione, Alessandri,
Barbaranelli, & Caprara, 2011). Moreover, plasticity
traits have been shown to lead to maladaptive behavior
among male adolescents if not balanced by stability traits
(DeYoung, Peterson, Seguin, & Tremblay, 2008).
Hence, the development of wisdom might require a bal-
ance between personality adjustment and growth. Although
the goal of personality growth is promotion of the greater
good by transcending one’s self-centeredness, emotional
stability helps wise persons approach this goal by either
shaping and transforming their environment or by adjust-
ing to circumstances that cannot be changed (Sternberg,
1998), which preserves contentment and well-being even
in difficult times (Ardelt, 2005; Ardelt & Edwards, 2016;
Ardelt & Jeste, in press).
Consistent with the theory of personality growth, open-
ness to new experiences has been shown in several cross-
sectional studies to correlate with all types of wisdom
measures (Le, 2011; Levenson et al., 2005; Neff, Rude, &
Kirkpatrick, 2007; Zacher, McKenna, Rooney, & Gold,
2015) and is even included in the operationalization of
1516
wisdom in the Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (Webster, 2003).
Emotional stability and extraversion have also been found
to be positively associated with integrative and noncog-
nitive measures of wisdom, such as three-dimensional
wisdom, wisdom assessed as self-transcendence, and the
Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale, and agreeableness and con-
scientiousness were positively correlated with three-dimen-
sional wisdom and self-transcendence (Levenson et  al.,
2005; Neff et al., 2007; Webster, Westerhof, & Bohlmeijer,
2014; Zacher et  al., 2015). Wisdom-related knowledge
was also positively associated with openness but negatively
with extraversion in one study (Staudinger, Maciel, Smith,
& Baltes, 1998) and uncorrelated with the Big Five per-
sonality traits in another study (Zacher et al., 2015). Only
few studies have examined the long-term effects of early
personality characteristics on later life wisdom. Among
college-educated women, openness to experience at age 21
was positively related to transcendent wisdom at age 52
(Wink & Helson, 1997) and to a composite wisdom meas-
ure (practical and transcendent wisdom and scores on a
wisdom task) at age 61 (Helson & Srivastava, 2002).
In accordance with the model of personality adjust-
ment, an extensive meta-analysis has shown that emo-
tional stability and extraversion are consistent predictors
of subjective well-being, followed by conscientiousness
and agreeableness, but less consistently openness to experi-
ences, as weaker predictors of well-being (Steel, Schmidt,
& Shultz, 2008). The positive association between extra-
version and well-being might be explained by the greater
social involvement of extraverted individuals and its posi-
tive impact on well-being. Emotional stability, extraversion,
conscientiousness, and agreeableness also predicted greater
subjective well-being over a 4-year period after controlling
for baseline scores (Soto, 2015). Hence, the constellation
of personality traits in young adulthood might have long-
ranging effects on wisdom and well-being in old age.
Erikson’s Stage Theory of Human
Development and Late-Life Wisdom and
Well-Being
Erikson’s (1963) stage theory of psychosocial develop-
ment balances personality adjustment and personality
growth. The model divides the life course into a series of
eight fundamental crises that need to be mastered for suc-
cessful human development to take place. The successful
resolution of a crisis is rewarded with a specific strength or
virtue that facilitates the mastery of the next and all sub-
sequent developmental crises. In Erikson’s theory, early life
experiences are vital for successful human development.
Erikson (1963) locates four of the eight developmental
tasks in childhood (basic trust vs basic mistrust, autonomy
vs shame and doubt, initiative vs guilt, and industry vs
inferiority) and the two subsequent crises in adolescence
(identity vs role confusion) and young adulthood (intimacy
Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
vs isolation). Therefore, a supportive social environment
and family relationships are likely to play a pivotal role
in facilitating or impeding the resolution of the first six
developmental crises (Vaillant, 1977) and also tend to con-
tribute to the child’s academic and social success in school
(Morrison, Rimm-Kauffman, & Pianta, 2003). This is con-
sistent with the principle of linked lives in the life course
paradigm (Elder, 1994), which stresses that individuals are
social beings who live their lives interdependently.
From young to middle adulthood, many adults grow
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more mature in their personalities, as indicated by aver-
age increases in emotional stability, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness, which might be the result of adult
responsibilities in family and work roles (Roberts, Walton,
& Viechtbauer, 2006). A more mature personality, in turn,
facilitates the successful resolution of the seventh develop-
mental task (Cox, Wilt, Olson, & McAdams, 2010; de St
Aubin & McAdams, 1995), which Erikson (1963) termed
generativity versus self-absorption or stagnation. During
midlife, many (but not all) adults develop an interest in
guiding the next generation by focusing more on the well-
being of others than their own success. Through a reduction
in self-centeredness, generative persons contribute to the
success and well-being of future generations, not just their
own children or grandchildren. This is also in alignment
with the reflective and compassionate dimensions of wis-
dom and the life course principle of human agency, which
emphasizes that people are active agents in shaping their
life course through the choices they make within the limits
of social, personal, and historical constraints. Moreover,
concern for the well-being of others might bring forth a
sense of gratification and well-being. Generativity has been
found to be positively associated with cognitive and non-
cognitive measures of wisdom (Webster, 2003; Wink &
Dillon, 2003; Wink & Helson, 1997; Wink & Staudinger,
2016) and also subjective well-being (Cox et al., 2010; de
St Aubin & McAdams, 1995).
The achievement of generativity facilitates the eighth psy-
chosocial task, ego integrity versus despair (James & Zarrett,
2006), during which older adults struggle to accept and inte-
grate their lives instead of dwelling on past failures, mis-
takes, and missed opportunities. The successful resolution
of this task results in wisdom and presumably also greater
well-being if despair is overcome. Ego-integrity has been
shown to be positively correlated with noncognitive wisdom
(Webster, 2003, 2010) and subjective well-being (Dezutter,
Wiesmann, Apers, & Luyckx, 2013; James & Zarrett, 2006).
According to Erikson’s theory, the dissolution of des-
pair and the emergence of wisdom depend on the suc-
cessful mastery of all psychosocial tasks. Hence, wisdom
is assumed to develop gradually over the life course with
the seeds of wisdom firmly planted in childhood (Ardelt &
Jacobs, 2009). This dovetails with the life course paradigm,
which states that any given stage of life, such as old age, can
only be understood when considering the trajectory of all
previous life stages (Elder, 1994).
Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
The Present Study
Taking the distinction between personality adjustment and
personality growth into account (Staudinger & Kunzmann,
2005; Wink & Staudinger, 2016), the paths to wisdom and
well-being might depend on people’s personality traits in
young adulthood, particular if personality is relatively stable
throughout life. An openness to new experiences that chal-
lenges existing norms and societal institutions is necessary
for personality growth and might lead to wisdom but not
greater well-being in old age (Hypothesis 1). By contrast,
emotional stability and extraversion are the most consist-
ent predictors of subjective well-being. Emotionally stable
individuals who conform to the norms and expectations of
society and extraverted people who are outgoing, sociable,
and friendly are likely rewarded by success in friendship,
family life, and employment (Steel et al., 2008), which might
yield contentment and well-being in old age (Hypothesis 2).
Yet, based on Erikson’s (1963) stage theory of psycho-
social development and the principles of life-span devel-
opment, linked lives, and human agency in the life course
paradigm (Elder, 1994), wisdom and well-being in old
age might also be the result of successful psychosocial
development across the whole life course (Hypothesis
3). Accordingly, the following path model was tested:
A benign childhood environment conducive to the mastery
of Erikson’s first four psychosocial tasks was predicted to
lead to social and academic success in school (Morrison
et  al., 2003) and more mature personality characteristics,
particularly greater emotional stability. As documented by
Rogosch and Cicchetti (2004), abused and/or neglected
children were less likely to develop emotionally stable,
agreeable, and conscientious personalities than children
who grew up in happy and warm families. Mature person-
ality characteristics were expected to be correlated with
academic, social, and athletic competence in school (Hair
& Graziano, 2003) and to help young adults to continue
on the trajectory of successful psychosocial development to
reach the stage of generativity in midlife. The achievement
of midlife generativity was assumed to increase the likeli-
hood of attaining ego integrity and, therefore, wisdom and
subjective well-being in old age.
Method
Sample
The sample consisted of 98 white men, born between
1915 and 1924 (with a mean and median birth year of
1921), from the longitudinal Study of Adult Development
for which old age data were available. The original sam-
ple was taken from the graduating classes of 1940–1944
and contained 268 Harvard college sophomores with a
satisfactory freshman academic record and no history of
physical and mental illness (Vaillant, 1977). Although the
majority of these students had privileged socioeconomic
family backgrounds, about half had a scholarship and/or
1517
worked during college to support themselves, and 65% of
the mothers and 26% of the fathers had not attended col-
lege themselves. Of the 98 men who completed the ques-
tionnaire at age 80, 70% obtained a graduate degree. By
age 80, 103 men (38.4%) of the original sample had died
and nine (3.4%) had dropped out of the study.
Procedure
During the men’s sophomore year at Harvard, every study
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member was thoroughly examined by an interdisciplinary
team of internists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and anthro-
pologists. At that time, the students’ parents were also
interviewed to collect the family’s social and medical his-
tory. Follow-up interviews with the men took place when
they were about 25, 30, 50, and 65 years old. Standardized
questionnaires with open and closed-ended questions were
mailed to the men every 2 years, starting at the age of 45. In
2001, 98 men completed the Gallup Wellsprings of a Positive
Life Survey (Isaacowitz, Vaillant, & Seligman, 2003).
Measures
Measures consisted of ratings of the men’s or their parents’
in-depth qualitative interviews and questionnaire items
(for details see Vaillant, 1977). Due to limited informa-
tion available in this secondary analysis of archival data,
interrater reliability or reliability coefficients of the vari-
ous scales could not always be computed but were reported
whenever possible.
Childhood/Adolescence Measures
The 10–20 h of retrospective qualitative interviews with the
participants’ parents at the beginning of the study were the
source for quality of childhood. Two independent judges
who were blind to the men’s data after age 19 provided
a global impression of the men’s childhood (0  =  overall
hunch is negative; non-nurturing environment; 1 = evoked
in rater neither positive nor negative feeling; 2 = positive,
intact childhood; good relationship with parents, siblings,
others of importance; environment seems to be condu-
cive to developing basic trust, autonomy, and initiative).
Two independent judges also rated the men’s school and
sports success in adolescence (0  =  no sports; school fail-
ures; marked social problems; 1 = average; no competitive
sports; 2  =  does well at school; competitive sports). For
each of the two scales, one was added to the sum of the
two ratings to obtain 1–5 scales.
Young Adulthood Measures
Personality characteristics at around age 21 were based on the
participants’ college personality traits (e.g., sociable, well inte-
grated, shy, pragmatic, humanistic, etc.) derived from ratings by
1518
the clinical staff at the beginning of the study. These traits were
weighted and factor analyzed to create the equivalent of Costa
and McCrae’s (1992) Five-Factor Personality Inventory (Soldz
& Vaillant, 1999). The scale for emotional stability (reverse of
neuroticism) ranged from 0 (low) to 34 (high), for extraver-
sion from 4 (low) to 43 (high), for openness to experience from
12 (low) to 41 (high), for agreeableness from 14 (low) to 47
(high), and for conscientiousness from 13 (low) to 46 (high).
The correlations of these scales with the respective scales of
the Five-Factor Personality Inventory, obtained when the men
were about 67  years of age, were high (remotional stability  =  .80,
p < .001; rextraversion  =  .62, p < .001; ropenness  =  .67, p < .001;
rconscientiousness = .95, p < .001), documenting rank-order stabil-
ity across time, with the exception of agreeableness (r = .26,
p = .012).
Three variables were added to control for possible
effects of general intelligence (IQ) and socioeconomic sta-
tus. IQ was the mean of average SAT and MAT scores and
the Army Alpha Verbal Intelligence Test, transformed into
a 15-point scale (1 = equivalent to E− and 15 = A+). The
correlation between the two IQ measures was r  =  .43 (p
< .001). Parents’ social class when the men were 18 years
old was assessed by the Hollingshead-Redlich Social
Class Index (Hollingshead & Redlich, 1958), divided into
four categories (1 = lower middle class and 4 = upper class).
Years of education ranged from 14 years (did not graduate)
to 20 years (MD or PhD).
Midlife Measure
Two independent judges rated the qualitative interviews up
to age 47 for 39 men in the current study according to the
first seven of Erikson’s (1963) eight developmental stages,
with an added stage of career consolidation between intim-
acy and generativity (Vaillant & Milofsky, 1980). Erikson
stage rating at around age 47 was the average of the two
ratings, scored on a scale from 4 (industry achieved/failed
identity) to 8 (generativity achieved). The intraclass correl-
ation between the two judges was .50 (p=.017). One judge
rated the interviews of the remaining 59 men.
Old Age Measures
Subjective well-being (SWB) was measured by seven items
from the Gallup Wellsprings of a Positive Life Survey
(Isaacowitz et al., 2003) when the men were about 80 years
of age. The men were asked to indicate their overall satis-
faction with life on a “well-being ladder” (0 = worst pos-
sible life and 10 = best possible life) and how satisfied they
were with the way their life was going (1 = very dissatisfied
and 5  =  very satisfied). Five items assessed general satis-
faction and well-being (e.g., I am completely satisfied with
my life) on 5-point scales (1 = very false and 5 = very true).
The 0–10 scale was transformed into a 1–5 scale before
the average of the seven items was computed, resulting in a
Cronbach’s α value of .90.
Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
The definition and operationalization of wisdom as a
three-dimensional personality characteristic guided the
construction of the wisdom measure. Considering that
the measurement of wisdom was not the intention of the
original investigators, self-assessed items from the Gallup
Wellsprings of a Positive Life Survey were selected to assess
the cognitive, reflective, and compassionate dimensions
of wisdom. This approach has been used successfully in
prior longitudinal wisdom research (Ardelt, 2000; Wink &
Dillon, 2003; Wink & Helson, 1997).
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The cognitive wisdom dimension was the average of four
items that assessed the ability and willingness to understand
life thoroughly (e.g., My mind is always asking questions)
and one item that appraised the ability to make important
decisions despite life’s unpredictability and uncertainties
(e.g., I have confidence in the choices I make). The reflective
wisdom dimension consisted of the average of four items,
which gauged the ability and willingness to look at phe-
nomena and events from different perspectives (e.g., Others
come to me for advice.). The affective wisdom dimension
comprised the average of 10 items of which three measured
benevolent emotions toward others (e.g., I always feel the
presence of love in my life) and the remaining seven items
benevolent motivations and behavior toward others (e.g.,
I frequently go out of my way to help people in need). All
of the items were assessed on 5-point scales (1 = very false
and 5  =  very true). Cronbach’s α was .70, .67, and .80,
respectively, for the cognitive, reflective, and compassion-
ate wisdom dimensions. The cognitive wisdom dimension
correlated .41 with the reflective dimension and .56 with
the compassionate dimension, and the correlation between
the reflective and compassionate dimensions was .54 (all p
< .001). Old age wisdom was computed as the average of
the three wisdom dimensions, resulting in an α-value of .74
(.87 for the 19 items).
Three separate confirmatory factor analyses of the indi-
vidual wisdom dimensions, using LISREL 9.3, confirmed
two-factor solutions for the cognitive and compassionate
dimensions and a one-factor solution for the reflective wis-
dom dimension. The two factors correlated .27 (p  =  .03)
for the cognitive dimension and .52 (p < .001) for the com-
passionate dimension. Standardized factor loadings ranged
from .48 to .83 (p < .01). Detailed results of the confirma-
tory factor analyses are available in the Supplementary
Appendix.
Results
Independent t-tests showed that the 98 men that comprised
the study sample were not significantly different from the
remaining men of the original sample on all study vari-
ables, except that they tended to have more years of edu-
cation (M  =  18.31, SD  =  1.65 vs M  =  17.78, SD  =  1.79;
t = 2.44, p = .016) and higher Erikson stage ratings at mid-
life (M = 7.57, SD = .60 vs M = 7.23, SD = .86; t = 3.62, p
< .001).
Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
Bivariate Correlations
Table  1 displays the bivariate correlations between the
variables. Although wisdom and SWB in old age were
positively correlated, the pathways differed. As predicted
in Hypothesis 1 and following the personality growth
pathway, openness to experiences in young adulthood
was positively correlated with wisdom in old age, but not
SWB. Conversely, early adulthood extraversion was asso-
ciated with SWB in late life, but not wisdom, supporting
Hypothesis 2. Emotional stability in young adulthood was
correlated with late-life wisdom and SWB and, therefore,
might be an indicator of the balance between personal-
ity adjustment and growth. The developmental pathway
outlined in Hypothesis 3 was also supported. The raters’
impression of a positive childhood was positively related
to adolescent school and sports success and wisdom in old
age. Adolescent school and sports success was positively
correlated with emotional stability and conscientiousness,
Erikson stage at midlife, and wisdom in old age. Emotional
stability in early adulthood was positively correlated with
Erikson stage at midlife, which was related to greater wis-
dom and SWB in old age. Among the control variables,
social class of the men’s parents was negatively associ-
ated with extraversion. Next, we analyzed a path model
to examine how the variables were inter-related across the
life course.
Path Analysis
The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) multiple imput-
ation method provided in PRELIS 9.3 was used to impute
one to six missing values for the young adulthood vari-
ables. Because PRELIS results indicated that the variables
did not follow a multivariate normal distribution, covari-
ance and asymptotic covariance matrices were computed
to estimate corrected t-values and chi-square statistics.
Due to the small sample size, robust maximum likelihood
rather than weighted least squares estimation was applied
to obtain the coefficient estimates (Jöreskog, Sörbom, du
Toit, & du Toit, 1999).
In structural equation modeling, it is desirable to have at
least five cases for each coefficient estimate (Kline, 2005).
Therefore, to build a path model that was relatively par-
simonious but did not ignore any significant paths, we
followed a stepwise procedure that only included earlier
life variables if they were related to later life variables.
First, only SWB and wisdom in old age were introduced
as dependent variables with all earlier life variables as pre-
dictors. Nonsignificant predictors were removed from the
model in a stepwise procedure until only significant predic-
tors remained. Second, the same procedure was repeated
with Erikson stage rating added as dependent variable and
then again with the young adulthood and adolescent vari-
ables that were retained as significant predictors of mid-
life and old age variables. Supplementary multivariate OLS
regression analyses were conducted to check for outliers
1519
and influential cases. One outlier/influential case with a
standardized residual greater than 3.5 was responsible for
the negative association between social class of parents and
extraversion. Because social class was not related to any
other variables, it was removed from the model.
The resulting path model in Figure 1 had 20 coefficient
estimates, which is acceptable for 98 cases. The model fit the
data well with a nonsignificant maximum likelihood ratio
chi-square of 22.19 (16 df, p  =  .14), a standardized root
mean square residual (SRMR) of .078, a root mean square
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error of approximation (RMSEA) of .063, and a compara-
tive fit index (CFI) of 1.00. A nonsignificant chi-square and
values lower than .08 for SRMR and RMSEA and higher
than .95 for CFI indicate a good model fit (Kline, 2005).
The variables in the path model explained 19%, 6%, 15%,
14%, and 25%, respectively, of the variance in adolescent
school and sports success, emotional stability, Erikson stage
rating at midlife, and old age SWB and wisdom. We also
tested the same path model with a listwise deletion of cases
(n = 90) and obtained very similar results with differences
in the standardized coefficient estimates no larger than .03.
As hypothesized, openness to experience in young adult-
hood predicted wisdom in old age (Hypothesis 1), and
extraversion and emotional stability predicted later life
SWB (Hypothesis 2). A  developmental pathway also led
to old age wisdom, confirming Hypothesis 3.  The raters’
positive impression of the men’s childhood was directly
related to school and sports success in adolescence, which
was associated with greater emotional stability in young
adulthood. Greater emotional stability, in turn, positively
predicted psychosocial development toward generativity at
midlife, which was related to greater wisdom in old age. In
addition, adolescent school and sports success was directly
related to old age wisdom.
Model 1 in Table 2 shows the standardized indirect and
total effects of the earlier life variables on old age wisdom
and well-being based on the model in Figure 1. The indirect
effect of the raters’ positive childhood impression on old age
wisdom was significant (standardized effect = .14, t = 2.89,
p = .003) as was the indirect effect of emotional stability
(standardized effect = .09, t = 2.04, p = .041), supporting
the hypothesis of a successful psychosocial developmental
pathway from childhood to adolescence, young adulthood,
midlife, and finally old age. By contrast, the indirect effect
of a positive childhood on old age SWB was not statistic-
ally significant (standardized effect = .03, t = 1.60, p = .11).
The model in Figure  1 did not include a direct path
between late-life wisdom and SWB but showed that the
residual correlation between the variables was statistically
significant. Models 2 and 3 in Table 2 examined the long-
term effects of earlier life variables on old age wisdom and
SWB, assuming a direct path between the variables (stand-
ardized direct effect  =  .21, p < .05). If wisdom increased
SWB (Model 2 in Table 2), consistent with Erikson’s model
of psychosocial development, SWB in old age would also
be indirectly affected by a positive childhood (standardized
 1520

Table 1.  Bivariate Correlations Between Variables

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) M SD N

Childhood
(1) Positive childhood impression — 2.70 1.36 98
Adolescence
(2) School and sports success .43** — 3.76 1.14 98
Young adulthood
(3) Social class of parents, age 18 .18 .03 — 3.07 .79 98
(4) IQ .03 −.17 .09 — 9.57 2.30 96
(5) Emotional stability, age 21 .03 .25* −.04 −.08 — 19.64 5.94 92
(6) Extraversion, age 21 .02 .09 −.21* .07 .21* — 26.84 6.04 94
(7) Openness to experiences, age 21 −.06 −.07 .01 .13 −.09 .13 — 29.47 5.77 93
(8) Agreeableness, age 21 −.03 −.06 −.04 .02 .11 .07 −.16 — 32.95 5.89 94
(9) Conscientiousness, age 21 .21 .23* −.06 .05 .17 −.00 −.11 .03 — 34.90 6.35 92
(10) Number of years of education −.09 −.09 .14 .26* .05 −.10 .01 −.07 .03 — 18.31 1.65 97
Midlife
(11) Erikson stage rating, age 47 .15 .25* .13 −.07 .39** .12 .04 −.08 .11 .06 — 7.57 .60 98
Old Age
(12) Subjective well-being, age 80 .11 .06 −.01 .06 .36** .28** .06 −.09 .14 .04 .24* — 3.98 .70 98
(13) Wisdom, age 80 .30** .32** −.02 −.00 .24* .12 .28** .00 .19 −.06 .34** .30** 3.77 .40 98
(14) Cognitive wisdom dimension .27** .23* −.08 −.01 .18 .09 .26* −.00 .27* −.03 .23* .34** 3.99 .50 98
(15) Reflective wisdom dimension .17 .29** −.01 .05 .15 .10 .21* .01 .08 −.01 .29** .14 3.64 .54 97
(16) Compassionate wisdom .31** .28** .05 −.06 .28** .11 .20 −.01 .13 −.11 .33** .28** 3.68 .45 97
dimension

**p < .01. *p < .05.

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Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
Figure 1.  Results of the path analysis model. Notes. n = 98; Robust maximum likelihood estimation using LISREL 9.30; standardized coefficient esti-
mates; t-values corrected for non-normality. Correlations between the three exogenous variables were included in the model (not shown) but were
not significant. ***t-value > 3.29 (p < .001), **t-value > 2.58 (p < .01), *t-value > 1.96 (p < .05).
effect = .06, t = 2.01, p = .04), adolescent school and sport
success (standardized effect = .13, t = 2.39, p = .02), and
young adult openness (standardized effect = .07, t = 2.01,
p = .04). By contrast, if SWB led to greater wisdom (Model
3 in Table  2), the results would be similar to those in
Model 1, except for a slightly increased indirect effect of
young adult emotional stability on wisdom (standardized
effect = .15, t = 2.46, p = .01).
Discussion
Although wisdom and SWB at age 80 were positively cor-
related for the 98 Harvard men in this study, three sep-
arate pathways predicted wisdom and well-being as
hypothesized. Across 60  years, openness to experiences
predicted wisdom along the personality growth pathway
(Hypothesis 1)  and emotional stability and extraversion
predicted well-being along the personality adjustment
pathway (Hypothesis 2), corroborating prior longitudinal
and cross-sectional study findings (Staudinger & Glück,
2011; Steel et al., 2008). Along the successful human devel-
opment pathway that balances personality adjustment and
growth, raters’ impression of the men’s childhood as posi-
tive and conducive to mastering Erikson’s (1963) first three
developmental tasks of basic trust, autonomy, and initiative
was positively associated with adolescent school and sports
success, which was related to greater emotional stability in
young adulthood. Young men who were more emotional
stable were more likely to reach the stage of generativity
at midlife, which was positively related to old age wisdom.
This is the first study that traces old age wisdom back to
childhood environment. The developmental pathway cor-
roborates Hypothesis 3 and lends support to Erikson’s
(1963) stage theory of psychosocial development and
Elder’s (1994) life course principles of linked lives, human
agency, and life-span development.
1521
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Successful psychosocial development across the life
course also benefited later life well-being under the assump-
tion that wisdom led to well-being, for example, by mas-
tering the physical, social, and psychological challenges of
old age and resolving Erikson’s eighth psychosocial task to
achieve ego integrity and overcome despair. If, by contrast,
well-being is considered a precursor of wisdom (Wink &
Staudinger, 2016), the only early life predictors of late-life
well-being were relatively stable personality traits of emo-
tional stability and extraversion. Because wisdom and SWB
were assessed at the same time, this study cannot determine
the direction of their relationship, but it can compare the
consequences. However, a short-term longitudinal study of
older adults found that wisdom predicted well-being but
not vice versa (Ardelt, 2016), consistent with successful
human development theories of old age well-being.
A positive childhood affected the men’s old age wisdom
through a sequential developmental trajectory that spanned
the whole life course and through the direct mediation of
adolescent school and sports success. Because school and
sports success included the absence of social problems and
was unrelated to the social class of the men’s parents and
the men’s IQ and years of education, it encompasses more
than academic and physical success. Contrary to adolescent
school and sports success, the men’s IQ scores and years
of education had no impact on later life wisdom, corrobo-
rating a similar outcome in a longitudinal study of white
college-educated women (Wink & Helson, 1997) and con-
firming that cognitive development by itself is no guarantee
for later life wisdom (Staudinger et al., 1998).
Adolescent school and sports success might indirectly
assess Clausen’s (1991) concept of adolescent “planful
competence,” a measure of maturity and human agency
that is defined as a combination of self-confidence, depend-
ability, intellectual engagement, and the ability to interact
positively with others. According to Clausen, competent
 1522

Table 2.  Indirect and Total Standardized Effects of Earlier Life Variables on Wisdom and Subjective Well-Being in Old Age—A Comparison of Three Structural Equation Models

Model 1: wisdom ↔ well-being Model 2: wisdom → well-being Model 3: well-being → wisdom

Dependent variables Wisdom SWB Wisdom SWB Wisdom SWB

Indirect Total Indirect Total Indirect Total Indirect Total Indirect Total Indirect Total
Independent variables effects effects effects effects effects effects effects effects effects effects effects effects

Positive childhood rating .14** .14** .03 .03 .13** .13** .06* .06* .14** .14** .03 .03
Adolescent school and sports .02 .32*** .07 .07 .02 .31*** .13* .13* .04 .32*** .08 .08
success
Extraversion, ~age 21 — — — .22* — — — .21* .05 .05 — .22*
Emotional stability, ~age 21 .09* .09* — .31*** .10* .10* .02 .30** .15* .15* — .33*
Openness to experiences, — .31*** — — — .32*** .07* .07* — .31*** — —
~age 21
Erikson stage rating, ~age 47 — .24** — — — .26** .05 .05 — .21** — —
Wisdom, ~age 80 — — — — .21* — —
Subjective well-being, ~age 80 — — — — — .21** —
Overall model fit statistics
  R2 .25 .14 .26 .19 .29 .16
  ML ratio χ2(df), p-value 22.19(16), p = .137 21.55(16), p = .159 20.79(16), p = .187
 SRMR/RMSEA/CFI .078/.063/1.000 .074/.059/1.000 .073/.055/1.000

Notes: n = 98; Robust maximum likelihood estimation using LISREL 9.30; t-values corrected for non-normality. If the indirect effect is equal to the total effect, only an indirect effect exists. ML = maximum likelihood,
SRMR = standardized root mean square residual, RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation, CFI = comparative fit index.
***t-value > 3.29 (p < .001). **t-value > 2.58 (p < .01). *t-value > 1.96 (p < .05).
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Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018, Vol. 73, No. 8
adolescents plan for the future by making wise choices
related to family and occupational pathways early in life,
which gives them a head start for success. Using 40-year
longitudinal data from the Berkeley Longitudinal Studies,
Clausen (1991) demonstrated that adolescent competence
was related to higher educational attainment and occu-
pational prestige and more stable marriages, careers, and
personalities across the life course, particularly for men.
Childhood upbringing in the form of consistent discipline
and parental support appeared to have contributed to ado-
lescent competence, supporting the current study’s findings.
At first glance, adolescent competence resembles
Staudinger and colleagues’ (Staudinger & Kunzmann, 2005;
Wink & Staudinger, 2016) path of personality adjustment
that is rewarded by greater success in life. Competent ado-
lescents were characterized by dependability, responsibility,
self-confidence, cheerfulness, equanimity, and the absence
of rebelliousness, yet they were also more likely than those
lower on competence to be independent, unconventional
in thinking, accepting of uncertainty and complexity,
and introspective, which are all indicators of personality
growth. Clausen’s study of adolescent competence, the
associations of adolescent school and sports success with
emotional stability and conscientiousness in young adult-
hood, and the long-term influence of adolescent school and
sport success on old age wisdom support the notion that
a balance between personality adjustment and personality
growth facilitates psychosocial development and growth in
wisdom. Hence, it is likely that a positive family environ-
ment fosters not only the successful adaptation to school
and social life but also adolescent competence and that
role models and mentors in family and school might have
far reaching influences on psychosocial development and
ultimately wisdom in old age (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000).
This study analyzed data from highly educated white
men who came of age during WWII, effectively controlling
for education, race, gender, and birth cohort. Yet, factors
that contribute to well-being and wisdom might not be
universal. Additionally, if wisdom (or other variables) had
been operationalized differently, the outcome might not be
the same. To assess the results’ generalizability, longitudinal
studies using more diverse samples from different cohorts
are needed. It would be particularly interesting to replicate
this study for the baby boom cohort, who grew up under
dramatically different societal circumstances, norms, and
rules with changing employment, marriage, and family pat-
terns and a greater interest in personality growth than the
WWII generation (Lesthaeghe, 2014).
Despite its limitations, the study breaks new ground by
examining the relative contributions of young adult per-
sonality and psychosocial development across the whole
life course on wisdom and well-being in old age. Although
the positive correlations between Erikson’s developmental
tasks have been shown in prior studies, most were based
on self-assessed cross-sectional data or only incorporated
two time points. By contrast, our study is the first to map
1523
a specific developmental pathway between childhood and
old age wisdom and well-being, using expert ratings of
retrospective childhood and adolescent data collected from
the men’s parents, psychologists’ ratings of the men’s per-
sonality characteristics during college, a different set of
experts to rate the men’s midlife generativity based on their
qualitative interviews up to age 47, and finally self-assessed
scale measures of wisdom and well-being when the men
were around 80  years of age. The different data sources
and the prospective nature of the data add confidence that
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the associations between the variables are not artificially
inflated by common method variance.
The longitudinal data support three developmental
pathways to late-life wisdom and well-being: (a) a per-
sonality adjustment path to well-being, (b) a personality
growth path to wisdom, and (c) a successful human devel-
opment path across the life course that balances personal-
ity adjustment and growth. Given the long-term effects of
early adult personality, psychological interventions that can
successfully increase emotional stability, extraversion, and
openness to experiences (Roberts et al., 2017) are recom-
mended to foster late-life wisdom and well-being. The third
pathway of successful psychosocial development does not
mean that wisdom only emerges in old age. On the contrary,
the development of wisdom takes place across the whole
life course through experiential learning and the mastery of
crises (Ardelt, 2005; Ardelt & Jacobs, 2009). The research
suggests that a warm and nurturing childhood, adoles-
cent competence, and mature personality characteristics in
young adulthood contribute to higher levels of wisdom and
well-being more than 60 years later in life, indicating that it
is best to plant the seeds of wisdom early.
Supplementary Material
Supplementary data is available at The Journals of
Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social
Sciences online.
Funding
This work was supported by a grant from the John T.  Templeton
Foundation.
Acknowledgments
This article was presented at the 21st IAGG World Congress of
Gerontology and Geriatrics in San Francisco, California, July 2017.
Author contributions: M.A. planned the study, wrote the article, con-
ducted the analysis, and edited the manuscript. K.R.G. contributed to the
literature review and edited the manuscript. G.E.V. is the former princi-
pal investigator for the Study of Adult Development and gave advice.
Conflict of Interest
The authors do not declare any conflict of interest.
1524
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