Does psychological well-being change with age? Longitudinal tests of age variations and further exploration of the multidimensionality of Ryff's model of psychological well-being

Using two population-based surveys we provide the first test of longitudinal age variations in Ryff's model of psychological well-being (RPWB) across three midlife to later-life transitions Through these analyses we explore (a) age variation in RPWB (b) the structure of RPWB and (c) the potential for methodologically driven age patterns In general, RPWB dimensions do not consistently exhibit distinct age profiles further longitudinal age variations are exceptionally small never accounting for more than 4% of the variance We observe far greater variation within ages or periods than between subscales across age or time - providing strong evidence against substantively different age profiles of RPWB Moreover heterogeneity among positively and negatively worded items yield varied age patterns indicating that the small age variations of RWPB could be driven at least in part by methodological artifacts rather than maturation (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved