Psychology and Aging 1994, Vol. 9, No. 2, 265-273 Coovrieht 1994 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. ™ * 0882-7974/94/S3.00 Self-Percepts of Control in Middle and Later Adulthood: Buffering Losses by Rescaling Goals Jochen Brandtstadter and Klaus Rothermund The authors propose a model of how a sense of control is maintained in later adulthood through shifts in the subjective importance of developmental goals. Developmental goals and control beliefs were repeatedly assessed over an 8-year interval on a core sample of 735 participants (initial age range: 30-59 years). The findings reveal a high degree of stability in generalized perceptions of control even in the transition to later adulthood. In line with predictions, moderated multiple regressions indicated (a) that the degree to which self-percepts of control within a particular goal domain affect an individual's general sense of control depends on the personal importance of that domain, and (b) that losses of control within a goal domain affect general perceptions of control to a lesser degree if the importance of the respective domain is downscaled within the same longitudinal interval. Implications for theories of depression as well as for successful aging are discussed. The question of how self-percepts of efficacy and control are affected by, and in turn affect, the processes of aging has become a focal issue in developmental and gerontological research. Per- tinent investigations have related the construct of control to a broad range of salutary effects on personal development and well-being; it has been assumed and documented, for example, that persons harboring strong beliefs of self-efficacy are less threatened by aversive developmental prospects, more persis- tent in coping with crises and losses, and more prone to meet potentially enriching challenges (e.g., Bandura, 1981; Rodin, 1986). Generally, personal goals can provide sense and meaning to one's life only as long as these goals are seen by the person to be within his or her span of control (cf. Brandtstadter & Baltes- Gotz, 1990; KJinger, 1977); correspondingly, having no control over personally important areas of life or feeling unable to attain personally valued goals is seen as a risk factor, if not a denning feature, of helplessness and depression (e.g., Peterson & Selig- man, 1984). Accumulated evidence suggests that a sense of per- sonal control is a central characteristic of optimal development and successful aging, however these notions may be denned (cf. M. M. Baltes & Baltes, 1986; P. B. Baltes & Bakes, 1990; Brandtstadter, 1992; Brandtstadter & Baltes-Gotz, 1990). Preserving a sense of efficacy and control, however, is usually considered a developmental task rather than a regular outcome of development in later life. Many researchers have assumed that the elderly experience a decline in perceived control—at least as long as no corrective or preventive measures are taken. Various plausible arguments have been advanced in support of this claim. Thus, it has been contended that the physical, envi- Jochen Brandtstadter and Klaus Rothermund, Department of Psy- chology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany. The research reported in this article was funded by the German Re- search Foundation. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jochen Brandtstadter, Department of Psychology, University of Trier, D-54286 Trier, Germany. ronmental, and social limitations that typically accompany the processes of aging limit the range of attainable outcomes, re- duce action-outcome contingencies for important areas of life, and thus undermine feelings of competence and control (cf. Ro- din, 1987; Schulz, 1980; Weisz, 1983). Another line of argu- ment has stressed the negative impact that socially prevailing stereotypes about the aging process might have on the elderly person's self-percepts of control and efficacy (e.g., Bandura, 1981; Kuypers & Bengtson, 1973; Rodin & Langer, 1980). The fact that uncontrollable aversive events and irreversible losses cumulate in later life (cf. Heckhausen & Baltes, 1991; Seligman & Elder, 1986) seems to lend further plausibility to the assump- tion of an age-related deficit in perceived personal control. This assumption, however, has received surprisingly little em- pirical support. Research on the age-control relationship has yielded highly inconsistent results, regardless of whether unidi- mensional or multidimensional or general or domain-specific measures were used (for reviews, see Lachman, 1986b; Rodin, Timko, & Harris, 1985). Without delving into the methodolog- ical problems that plague this field of research (cf. Lachman, 1986a), the safest conclusion seems to be that, despite large in- terindividual variations, there is as yet no convincing evidence for a general age-related decline in self-percepts of control. Con- sidering the alleged functional relationship between perceived control and depression, it is noteworthy that research on the age-depression relationship has yielded similarly inconclusive results; there have even been claims that elderly people may be relatively immune to depression (cf. Blazer, 1989; Newmann, 1989). In our view, this state of affairs should prompt closer scrutiny of the mechanisms that may help the aging individual to main- tain a sense of control and efficacy despite age-related losses in behavioral resources and adaptive reserves. Our theoretical ap- proach focuses on the interplay between developmental changes in perceived control over particular goal domains and shifts in the personal importance of these domains. Intrinsic to notions of power and control is the capability of attaining personally 265