Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: from striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses.

By Natalie C. Ebner, Alexander Freund, P. Baltes. Psychology and Aging, 2006

721 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b3db2ab5a80008a10334be2e8fff5c36d2ae2eca

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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Older workers' motivation: against the myth of general decline (2010, background): “Whilst younger people primarily strive for gains, older people more often focus on maintenance and the prevention of losses ( Ebner et al. , 2006”
Age and work‐related motives: Results of a meta‐analysis (2011, background): “Although Generation Xers are 44 years old at most, and may be considered too young to be experiencing substantial losses, Ebner et al. (2006) have found that goal focus toward maintenance and prevention already starts increasing in middle age.”
Age, culture, and self-employment motivation (2015, background): “Specifically, studies found that, on average, growth-oriented goals regarding all kinds of life topics are most common in middle-aged adults, and less common in younger adults and older adults (Ebner et al. 2006).”
The relations between work centrality, psychological contracts, and job attitudes: The influence of age (2011, background): “Older workers may be less focused on growth and learning because they face increasing loss of resources; it is difficult for them to acquire new resources, and losses in resources are threatened by downward spirals (Ebner et al., 2006).”
Motivating Employees to Work Beyond Retirement: A Multi‐Level Study of the Role of I‐Deals and Unit Climate (2012, background): “Personality differences among young people are relatively small (Bal et al., 2011; Ebner et al., 2006).”
Dominant achievement goals of older workers and their relationship with motivation-related outcomes (2010, positive): “Indeed, several researchers (Ebner, Freund, & Baltes, 2006; Freund, 2006; Heckhausen, 1997) have demonstrated that a person's goal orientation changes across the life span, revealing evidence for a stronger orientation on maintenance and loss prevention among older compared to younger people.”
A lifespan perspective for understanding career self-management and satisfaction: The role of developmental human resource practices and organizational support (2018, background): “As evidenced by Ebner et al. (2006), young people (≤31) are more oriented towards achieving growth goals, whereas middleaged to older adults (≥40) are more concerned with preventing resource losses.”
Successful Aging as Management of Resources: The Role of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (2008, background): “Ebner, Freund, and Baltes (2006) directly assessed goal orientation in younger, middleaged, and older adults and found converging evidence for the predicted shift in goal orientation.”