Julianna Fiori | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Julianna Fiori
Title: Golden Years, Meaningful Minds: Exploring Purpose, Psychological Well-Being, and Self-Efficacy in Independent Living
Major: Psychology
Minor: Statistical & Data Sciences
Pathway: Public Health
Advisor: Claudia Thompson

Research on older adults regarding purpose in life, psychological well-being, and self-efficacy has been often overlooked due to the lack of urgency to research this age group. Most psychological research has primarily focused on younger age groups due to ageism as well as the belief that interventions in early life are believed to have more of a long-lasting impact. However, in more recent years, it has become crucial to research older adults and their experiences in life due to the increasing life expectancy of human beings. For this reason, I designed a study that included an interview and surveys (N = 32) or only the surveys due to time constraints (N = 27) to older adults residing in an independent living community by the name of ‘Friendship Village of South Hills.’ Every participant (N = 59) was asked to fill out 5 different surveys regarding general demographics, lived experiences they partake in at Friendship Village, Purpose in Life Test (PIL), Psychological Well-Being (PWB), and Self-Efficacy for Social Participation Scale (SOSA). Participants that were interviewed were asked to elaborate on their experiences throughout life as well as a resident of Friendship Village to provide additional anecdotes to support their survey responses. I hypothesized that residents self-efficacy, purpose in life, and psychological well-being scores would be positively correlated as well as the more lived experiences they partake in, the higher the self-efficacy score. The results from the analysis showed that self-efficacy, psychological well-being, and purpose in life scores were all correlated to one another and that there was no statistically significant correlation between self-efficacy scores and number of lived experiences. The results highlight the importance of socialization to promote self-efficacy, purpose in life, and psychological well-being as an older adult residing in an independent living community.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.