Stressors in Salient Social Roles and Well-Being in Later Life

This study is designed to evaluate two main hypotheses. The first hypothesis specifies that stressors that arise in roles that are highly important to older adults exert a more deleterious effects on feelings of life satisfaction than stressors that arise in roles that are less salient. The second hypothesis aims to contribute to the literature by evaluating whether stressors in salient social roles affect well-being by eroding feelings of personal control over the same roles in which the stressors emerged. Support for both hypotheses is provided by a recent nationwide survey of older adults. When coupled with a carefully devised theoretical rationale, these findings point to the insights that can be gained by utilizing role-specific measures of stress and personal control.