Age variations in the dimensionality of life satisfaction

Paralleling the increasing importance of life satisfaction and related concepts in gerontological research has been an increase in the number and kind of operational measures of these concepts. In this context the present research suggests not only that life satisfaction is a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional construct but, of particular gerontological importance, the pattern of multidimensionality varies across age groups. The analysis is based upon a national sample of the adult population of the United States in which 12 different domains of life satisfaction were subjectively assessed by each respondent. Separate factor analyses were computed for each of seven age groups. The results clearly indicate that for every age group life satisfaction is a multidimensional construct. More importantly, the dimensionality differs substantially, across the age groups — both in the number of factors derived and the domain-specific content of those factors. T HE concepts of life satisfaction, morale,and adjustment have long played an impor-tant role in social gerontology (Larson, 1978; Lohman, 1977). In earlier research they were often used as interchangeable labels for a gen-eral set of concerns. Similarly, measures of th