RESEARCH PAPER Perceived Control’s Influence on Wellbeing in Residential Care Versus Community Dwelling Older Adults Jaclyn Broadbent • Shikkiah de Quadros-Wander • Jane A. McGillivray Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract As people age and their control capacity presumably declines, it is argued that the influence of acceptance (or secondary perceived control) increases to help maintain normative levels of wellbeing. While previous studies have typically investigated the relationship between perceived control and global estimates of life satisfaction in com- munity samples, the present study compared the link between perceived control and eight key domains of satisfaction in 101 older adults (65? years) living in the community and 101 older adults (65? years) living in residential aged-care. The findings supported the theory that stability in satisfaction and primary perceived control may, in part, be facili- tated by a growing acceptance of what cannot be changed. Despite assumptions that old age is associated with lower primary control, particularly when living in an aged-care facility, the data did not indicate that primary perceived control was suppressed as a result of living in residential age-care. The results did indicate, however, that primary and sec- ondary perceived control may predict satisfaction with comparable strength under low- control conditions, and that acceptance takes more of a prime position in low control situations in later life. Keywords Subjective wellbeing Á Quality of life Á Perceived control Á Older adults Á Residential aged-care 1 Introduction Sustaining a sense of control into the later years has been proposed as a psychological factor associated with continued high functioning in older adults, and has been identified as a strong predictor of successful aging (Andrews et al. 2002; Ranzijn and Luszcz 1999). Perceived control consists of two components: primary and secondary control. Primary J. Broadbent Á S. de Quadros-Wander Á J. A. McGillivray (&) School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia e-mail: jane.mcgillivray@deakin.edu.au 123 J Happiness Stud DOI 10.1007/s10902-013-9452-9