Léandre Bouffard

Personal Goals and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life:

With a sentence completion technique, 708 elderly participants (65 to 90 years of age) expressed 15,027 personal aspirations. These goals were classified according to their motivational content in ten major categories and their relationships with various aspects of subjective well-being were studied. Two goal profiles emerged from this analysis. Aspirations centered on self-preservation were associated with poor self-rated physical health, being burden by difficulties, lack of meaning to life, dissatisfaction with life, and negative expectations for the future. Aspirations of self-development and interest in the well-being of others were associated with feelings of well-being in later life. Development of meaningful personal goals was discussed as a new intervention approach with the elders.

Addressing suicidal ideations through the realization of meaningful personal goals.

A personal goal intervention program was offered to early retirees aged 50 to 65 years with the objective of increasing their subjective well-being. The program was aimed at helping the participants set, plan, pursue, and realize their personal goals. A subsample of 21 participants with suicidal ideas was identified from a larger sample (N = 354) of retirees living in the community who took part in the study to evaluate the program. The experimental (n = 10) and control (n = 11) groups were compared on their answers to 16 goal and psychological well-being questionnaires. By the end of the program, the experimental group had improved significantly more than the control group on hope, goal realization process, serenity, flexibility, and positive attitude toward retirement. The levels of depression and psychological distress significantly decreased. These gains were maintained 6 months later. The positive results obtained from this study could lead to an innovative way to help people with suicidal ideations.

Motivational goal objects in later life.

With a sentence completion technique, 708 elderly participants (64 to 90 years of age) expressed 15,020 personal aspirations. These goals were classified according to their motivational content in ten major categories and their relationships with different sociodemographic variables were studied. Two goal profiles emerge from this analysis. Aspirations centered on self-preservation are associated with very old age, functional impairment, lower S.E.S. and education, being alone or institutionalized. Aspirations of self-development and interpersonal relationships are associated with younger age, physical autonomy, higher S.E.S. and education, being married or living at home. Development of meaningful personal goals are discussed as a mean of intervention with elderly individuals.

Extension de la Perspective Temporelle Future en Relation Avec la Frustration

Abstract By means of Nuttins Motivational Induction Method, the intentions, plans and goals of subjects from Rwanda were collected. The se motivational objects of 71 frustrated subjects (non-admitted to the university) were compared with those of 47 non-frustrated subjects (admitted to the university) regarding extension of their future time perspective (FTP). As hypothesized, FTP of frustrated subjects was more restricted than that of non-frustrated subjects (the mean extension score, in number of years, and the proportion of number of references to the near future to the number of references to the distant future). No difference was found before the occurrence of the frustrating situation. An additional analysis based on subjective frustration demonstrates that a significant relationship exists between intensity of experienced frustration and extension of FTP.

Ténacité et flexibilité dans la poursuite de projets personnels : impact sur le bien-être à la retraite

This research pertained to personal goals during retirement and especially to the influence of tenacity and flexibility on measures of psychological well-being. The participants ( N = 147) had been retired for less than three years and were aged between 49 and 75 years ( M = 58 years). The participants had to identify four personal goals and rate each of them along 15 dimensions. Psychological well-being was evaluated with scales of depression, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Regression analyses showed that flexibility in the presence of obstacles to the realization of goals accounts for 44 per cent of the variance in depression, 29 per cent of life satisfaction and 25 per cent of self-esteem. Tenacity had a more modest impact. Flexibility seems to be the strategy which is most useful in facing difficulties in the pursuit of goals during retirement.

Future Time Perspective according to women's age and social role during adulthood

The purpose of the present research was to describe the kind of transformation Future Time Perspective (FTP) undergoes during adulthood and to investigate the differences that may occur in the extension and the content of goals of women according to their age groups and social roles (homemakers, students, and careerwomen). With a sentence completion technique, 622 Caucasian French-Canadian women (20 to 64 years of age) expressed their aspirations. These goals were classified into specific categories according to their temporal extension and their motivational content. Results indicate that the extension and the content of FTP undergo numerous changes during adulthood, revealing different goal profiles according to womens age and social role. Results are discussed in relation with current research.

Extension Temporelle des Projets Personnels au Cours de la Vieillesse

The future time perspective (FTP) of 361 elderly persons was studied. Personal projects (goal objects or concrete motivations) were collected by means of the sentence completion technique and were classified in temporal categories. The future extension index (ratio between short- and long-term projects) shows that the FTP of both sexes is similar. Concerning the relation between FTP and age, we observed that the number of subjects with a long FTP is reduced as the age increases. On the other hand, when we consider all the data, 17% of the answers are classified in the near future (less than one year) whereas 52% are related to distant future. The future is far from disappearing during the old age. The FTP is in relation with socio-economic status and schooling, but the ‘effects’ of these variables on the FTP are interwoven. The results were not inconsistent with the idea that subjects with high socio-economic status (who also have more years of schooling) are characterized by a longer FTP. From the result...

La santé mentale par la gestion des projets personnels : une intervention auprès de jeunes retraités

A personal goal-based intervention was offered to retired people aged 50 to 65 years with the objective of increasing their subjective well-being and their mental health. More specifically, the program presented here was aimed to promote the setting, planning, and realization of personal projects through a learning process based on a cognitive approach. At the end of the program, the experimental group (n = 117) had improved significantly more than the control group (n = 177) on all the goal and subjective well-being indicators, and this gain was maintained six months later. Some ideas to make the program more effective are discussed.

Extension temporelle des buts et âge chronologique au cours de la vieillesse

Future time perspective (FTP), defined as the temporal extension of goals, is considered, by some authors, to be increasingly limited in older age. Restriction in FTP is sometimes observed in the elderly but could be explained by various factors other than age. In order to verify this hypothesis, the aspirations or goals of 708 elderly (aged 65 to 90 years) were collected with a sentence completion technique. An index of future extension was established after the analysis of answers. The results confirm that there is no relationship between FTP and chronological age for the elderly. A reduced FTP is observed for women. A similar tendency is found for subjects of low socio-economic status and for subjects of low educational level. FTP is also relatively stable for healthy and autonomous subjects and it increases in subjects of low autonomy who are still living at home. This research shows that, even in the presence of negative factors and with individual differences taken into account, elderly persons have goals and are open to the future.