'If I Had It to Do Over Again .. .": Midlife Review

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1999, Vol. 76, No. 2, 270-283

Copyright 1999 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-3514/99/53.00

'If I Had It to Do Over Again .. .": Midlife Review, Midcourse Corrections, and Women's Weil-Being in Midlife Abigail J. Stewart

Elizabeth A. Vandewater

University of Michigan

The University of Texas at Austin

Regrets about early adult life choices, expressed in midlife, are examined as a source of motivation for life changes in later midlife in 2 samples of women. Replicated findings with longitudinal data indicate that regret motivates goal setting but is not associated with actually making desired life changes. In both samples, women who had regrets about early adult life choices but did not make relevant life changes were lower in later well-being than both women with regrets who did make such changes and women without regrets. Compared with women who transformed regrets into life changes, women who did not were lower in effective instrumentality and higher in rumination, though they did not appear to face more barriers to change. Analyses with longitudinal data indicated that both rumination and effective instrumentality mediated the relationship between regret and well-being for women who did not translate regret into life changes.

Like psychologists, cultural commentators have been divided in their views on the value of frankly acknowledging regret. Edith Piaf (n.d.) seemed proud when she sang, "Je ne regrette rien" ("I regret nothing") and Katherine Mansfield apparently felt "Regret is an appalling waste of energy . . . it's only good for wallowing in" (as cited in Landman, 1993, p. 9). On the other hand, Thoreau

(1906/1949) advised as follows: "Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh" (p. 95). In this article we explore the possibility that frank acknowledgement of regret—at least in the context of a midlife review—may indeed permit some women to make changes and thereby-"live afresh." We also explore why for others the process of midlife review and regret about early adult life choices does not result in a "midcourse correction" of the life trajectory.

Abigail J. Stewart, Department of Psychology, Program in Women's Studies, and Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan; Elizabeth A. Vandewater, Department of Human Ecology, The University of Texas at Austin. The research reported in this article was conducted with support from Boston University Graduate School, National Science Foundation Visiting Professorships for Women, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the MacArthur Foundation Network for Research on Successful Midlife Development, Radcliffe Research Support and Midlife Program Grants from the Henry A. Murray Research Center, the University of Michigan Horace H. Rackham Graduate School, National Institute of Mental Health subgrants under prime grants 1-RO1-MH43948 and 1-RO1MH47408, and National Institute of Aging Training Grant T32-AG0017. Computer-accessible data and copies of some of the raw data for several waves of both studies have been archived at the Henry A. Murray Research Center, Radcliffe College. We are grateful to the participants in the studies for their contributions of time and personal reflections over many years; to Sandra Tangri for her generous collaboration on the Michigan sample follow up; to Janet Landman and Janet Malley for their colleagueship and conceptual contributions; to Olga Favreau, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Joan Ostrove, Isis Settles, and Amy Young for their helpful comments on previous versions of this article; to Gail Agronick, Thomas Popoff, and David Winter for their cheerful and untiring assistance; and to the Radcliffe Longitudinal Study group and the Women's Life Paths Study group for feedback, support, and help at many points in the process. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Abigail J. Stewart, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 525 East University Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1125. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected].

The Notion of a Midlife Review Psychologists are fairly well-agreed that there may be a "life review" in old age (Butler, 1974; Coleman, 1974; Erikson, Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986; Meacham, 1977) and that it may go well (in which case it helps an individual come to terms with aging and death) or badly (in which case it can result in despair). We propose that a life review conducted in middle age may be one element of the much-vaunted "midlife crisis" and that it may have similar potential costs and benefits (see Chiriboga, 1989, for a related argument). This sort of review or "stocktaking" is clearly a component of many accounts of midlife crises. Levinson (1978) argued that middle-aged adults experience an intense period of selfevaluation when "Every aspect of their lives comes into question, and they are horrified by much that is revealed" (p. 199). Similarly, if a bit less drastically, Jung (1934/1954) pointed out that at around age 40 "one begins to take stock, to see how one's life has developed up to this p o i n t . . . . The critical survey of himself and his fate enables a man to recognize his peculiarities" (p. 193). Although some theorists like these have stressed the inwardturning aspect of this process of life-evaluation, we note that there is sometimes a much more active element to it, reflected in visible change. For example, Levinson pointed out that some people "cannot go on as before, but need time to choose a new path or modify an old one" (p. 199). In his later research with women, Levinson (1996) claimed that 270

MIDLIFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING "Most homemakers went through a 'rock bottom' experience of marriage and life in the Mid-Life Transition" (p. 173). He pointed out that they "attempted to make new choices" (p. 174) at this stage of life. The career women in his study had less extreme experiences, but they also often "felt the need for more limited changes" (p. 372). Levinson concluded that there was a qualitative difference between the career women he interviewed and the homemakers. The homemakers, who centered their early adult lives on marriage and motherhood, generally "recognized that their marriage enterprise had been a partial or massive failure and that, whatever its previous value, they wanted a different kind of marriage, family, and life structure in the next season" (p. 408). According to his account, the career women more often had included elements of work, marriage, and motherhood in their lives throughout early adulthood and sought more modest adjustments in their lives around age 40. These findings echo those of Helson and Picano (1990) that the traditional role may be "bad," at least for many contemporary women. These accounts suggest that for some women the process of midlife review may be intensified by the absence of a role in the labor force. There is, then, reason to believe that a process of midlife review may take place in early middle age, among women. This review may result in regret about past sacrifices and a desire for drastic life changes under some circumstances (perhaps particularly when early adulthood has involved the sacrifice of some central roles) and more modest changes under others. The Role of Life Regrets Although many psychologists are interested in the cognitive features of regret (as a form of counterfactual thought), others have recognized that acknowledged regrets can motivate changes in behavior. Lecci, Okun, and Karoly (1994) defined regrets as "unfulfilled or unattainable intentions or goals" (p. 731), thereby placing regrets clearly in the domain of motivation. There is no doubt that sometimes regret is associated with shame and rumination about personal inadequacies and, therefore, with inaction (see, e.g., Landman, 1993; Niedenthal, Tangney, & Gavanski, 1994). It can also, though, lead to corrective actions. For example, Landman, Vandewater, Stewart, and Malley (1995) suggested that acknowledging "missed opportunities" might sometimes reflect simple acknowledgment of (past) facts with implications for the present, but at other times it might permit development of a plan for the future: "Like pain, counterfactual thought about a regrettable past may serve instructional and motivational purposes— telling us that something is wrong and moving us to do something about it" (Landman et al., 1995, p. 89). This perspective is consistent with evidence that regrets may provide information about a standard to be exceeded in future performance (Karoly, 1993) and that apparently negative thinking can facilitate positive responding (Boninger, Gleicher, & Strathman, 1994; Cantor, 1990; Roese, 1994). Further, Lecci et al. (1994) provided important information about when regret is likely to serve such a function: when the person is young or middle-aged (vs. older) and when the focus of thought about regret includes a sense of potential personal efficacy. The importance of this kind of efficacy or instrumentality, and of factors that impede it like rumination, is supported by a fairly large body of research (e.g., Bandura, 1977,1986; Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Lyubomirsky & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1995; Nolen-

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Hoeksema, 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema, Parker, & Larson, 1994). Situational and dispositional factors (like age, efficacy, and ruminative tendencies) may, then, increase or decrease the likelihood that regrets serve as positive motivations for actions rather than stimuli for paralysis. Because we know that age may be one important situational factor, we propose that when a midlife review (in contrast to a life review in old age) includes acknowledged regrets, it may also more easily motivate life changes. Even among middle-aged individuals, though, this is more likely if the regret is accompanied by positive expectancies of success about making those changes and not by ruminative doubt. The Role of Regret in Women's Midlife Well-Being Research on women from several generations has suggested that women's life regrets often focus on missed opportunities for education and career development. For example, Sears (1979) found that the Terman gifted women (born around 1910) regretted not having pursued careers throughout their adult lives. Similarly, Landman and Manis (1992) found that two thirds of their sample of adult women (surveyed in the early 1980s) had educational and career regrets. Among women born in this century, then, there is evidence that educational and career regrets are particularly common (see Landman, 1993, for a review). We may also suspect, though, that educational and career regrets may have increased motivational importance for the current generation of middle-aged women. It is this generation that first benefited from the educational and work opportunities associated with the women's movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. However* not all women personally benefited from those opportunities; those women who feel they did not may be particularly prone to midlife regret. Levinson's (1996) research suggests that contemporary middle-aged women (women of the "baby boom" generation) have more serious regrets at midlife if they pursued marriage and motherhood roles, but not careers, during early adulthood. Landman et al. (1995), reporting on a sample of college-educated women of the same cohort, found that midlife acknowledgment of "missed opportunities" for career and education was associated with higher levels of concurrent depression and anxiety, even controlling for dispositional depression and anxiety. Presumably the women most likely to have regrets about such missed opportunities were precisely those who did not in fact take advantage, as young adults, of the new opportunities for women. Regret, Life Changes, and Midlife Well-Being We have seen that midlife is often a period of life review, including identification of regrets about the past. In addition, we have seen that regrets can motivate goal setting and active efforts to actualize goals. Finally, we have seen that contemporary midlife women who have significant regrets about sacrifices of their own educations and careers in early adulthood may be especially prone to emotional difficulty, and the formulation of goals for life changes, in middle age. In this study, we tested several hypotheses based on these ideas. We drew on two longitudinal studies of midlife women who are college educated. These two samples of women were part of the first generation of women to come of age as new opportunities for

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education and careers were opening up for women (see Hulbert & Schuster, 1993). For that reason, they may be expected to be particularly vulnerable to regrets about choices made under one set of social pressures, when—later in life—they were subject to a different set. In addition, these well-educated women possessed good resources for making life changes they desired. Among these midlife women, we predicted that regrets about "traditional" role choices (that sacrificed women's educations or careers) would serve as motivation for making changes in these areas. It is, of course, possible that even in these relatively privileged samples, external barriers to change stand in the way of those wishing to act on their regrets; we examined this possibility. Second, we proposed that acting on regrets would enhance wellbeing in later midlife, whereas failure to act on them would lower midlife well-being. Third, we anticipated that the ability to act on regrets would be related to individual differences in personality resources related to expectancies for success at making life changes. More specifically, we expected to find that the personality resource of effective instrumentality enhances women's ability to make desired life changes, whereas the personality characteristic of rumination interferes with their ability to do this. In fact, we proposed that these personality characteristics would mediate between unsuccessful midcourse corrections and lower midlife well-being; we tested this hypothesis with the sample that has longitudinal data permitting such a test.

Study 1

Method Participants The first study includes participants in Tangri's longitudinal study of women from the University of Michigan Class of 1967 (Tangri, 1969, 1972; Tangri & Jenkins, 1986, 1993). The initial sample of 200 was randomly stratified to produce three equal groups differentiated by their career aspirations as college seniors (nontraditional, moderately traditional, or very traditional; see Tangri, 1969, 1972). They were first studied in 1967 and have been followed up three times (1970, 1981, 1992) since then. In each wave the women were asked basic demographic questions, as well as a number of closed- and open-ended questions about their life choices and life events. In addition, personality characteristics and well-being were assessed in the 1992 wave. This study used data collected in 1981 (n = 117) and 1992 (« = 109), when the women were, respectively, ages 36 and 47. Analyses for this study focus on the 83 women with complete data in these two waves (i.e., at both age 36 and 47). As is common in longitudinal studies, the entire sample did not participate in every wave of data collection. Analyses aimed at assessing potential bias in this sample conducted on all available variables (including demographic information, personality, and well-being) did not reveal systematic differences between participants selected for this study and those omitted because of missing data. Similarly, Cole and Stewart (1996) reported no detectable bias in the 1992 wave, on the same variables. In addition, Jenkins (1989, 1994) reported that sample attrition from 1967 to 1981 did not systematically bias the follow-up sample in terms of demographic and background variables available to her.

about age 29, and they had an average of two children. In terms of highest educational degree earned, by age 47, 28% had a bachelor's, 47% had a master's, and 25% had a doctoral level degree. At age 36, 69% were engaged in the paid labor force; at age 47, 90% of them were. Those women in the paid labor force at age 47 were distributed fairly evenly across a work status scale (Hollingshead & Redlich, 1956): 27% were major professionals (e.g., physicians, college professors), 37% were minor professionals (e.g., certified public accountants, social workers), and 36% were in administrative or clerical jobs. By age 47, their median personal income was between $30,000 and $40,000 a year.

Measures In order to examine our hypotheses, and to capitalize on the longitudinal nature of our data, we used measures generated from a variety of sources. These included coding of open-ended material, use of standardized scales, and creation of psychometrically sound measures where needed. This multimethod approach using an unusually rich array of instruments (i.e., standardized quantitative scales, Q sorts, and projective measures, described in detail below) is an important strength of this research. Regrets about pursuing traditional roles for women. On the basis of literature suggesting these would be especially prominent, our interest was in regrets about having pursued traditionally feminine roles (as opposed to other kinds of regrets—e.g., regretting having chosen a law career rather than a career in medicine). In order to assess this, we coded women's responses at age 36 (in 1981) to the following question: "In retrospect, are there any things you would have done differently? If yes, please tell us what." Similar questions, in open- and closed-ended formats, have been asked in Gallup polls (in 1965; see Erskine, 1973), other studies of educated women (Baruch, Barnett, & Rivers, 1983; Ginzberg & Associates, 1966; Yohalem, 1993), and recent research with cross-sectional samples (DeGenova, 1992; Metha, Kinnier, & McWhirter, 1989). Statements coded as traditional role regret included (a) indications that the woman would have planned or thought more seriously about a career, would have chosen career over home, would have gone to graduate school or would have gone earlier, or would have chosen a career in a high-status, traditionally male-dominated field, rather than a traditionally femaledominated occupation; (b) indications that the woman would have married after establishing a career (rather than before), would have married someone who shared equally in childcare and household responsibilities, or would not have put her husband's needs above her own; or (c) indications that the woman would have gone back to work sooner (or at all) after having children or would have established a career before having children. Examples of traditional role regrets were as follows: "I would not have let my husband take sole responsibility for determining the course of our lives. His. career has always been the only deciding factor in our lives[,] which has not been fair to me or the children." "I would have chosen a profession less traditionally female and would have gone into something with more long-range challenge." "When I was in college I considered a career in medicine. Due to lack of support from family members and future husband, I didn't pursue it. I would have at least tried it if I were 20 today." Examples of regrets that were not about traditional roles were "choose a career without night shifts" and "would have married earlier." On the basis of this content coding, participants were categorized into one of two groups: (a) traditional role regret (women who specifically regretted having pursued traditional roles, n = 51) and (b) no traditional role regret (women who either had no regrets, n = 23, or who had regrets that were not about pursuing traditional roles for women, n = 9, total N = 32).' The coding was completed by two coders, and interrater reliability

Description of the Sample At age 47, 86% percent of the women were married or living with a partner, 8% were currently divorced, and 6% had never been married. Eighty-nine percent of the sample had become mothers, on average at

1 A few women (n = 5) expressed more than one regret; they were categorized as having traditional role regrets if at least one regret was coded as such.

MIDLIFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING coefficients calculated at various times during the coding were quite high, ranging from .91 to .94. Consistent with research on previous cohorts of women (see Erskine, 1973; Landman & Manis, 1992; Landman et al., 1995), traditional role regrets for this cohort mainly centered on education (44%) and career (38%), with smaller proportions in the areas of marriage (15%) and parenting (3%). Of the women without traditional role regrets, nearly three fourths had no regrets, whereas all of those with regrets lamented that their family role involvements were not more traditional (such as getting married and starting a family earlier or staying home with children).2 Because traditional role regret at age 36 was measured with a single item, we were concerned about reliability. However, in 1992 (at age 47) the women responded to five different life review questions used in various studies of women's lives, including the question asked at age 36. Thus, using the age 47 data, we were able to address this issue by examining the reliability of a multi-item measure of traditional role regret that included the single item asked at age 36 (in 1981). All five life review items from the 1992 (age 47) wave were coded for traditional role regret (by the same expert coders with interrater reliability coefficients of .90 and above), and women were categorized as either having or not having traditional role regrets for each item, using the systems previously described. The five items were asked in the following order; response distributions associated with them follow: (a) "Were there any attractive opportunities for career or other long-range activities which you did not pursue? If yes, what are they? Why did you not pursue them? Do you have any regrets about not pursuing them?" (yes, n = 21; no, n = 57); (b) "Are there any ways in which your life has been different from what you thought it would be when you left college? If yes, in what way?" (yes, n = 17; no, n = 59); (c) "If you had to do it over again, would you choose the same lifestyle pattern—with respect to your home versus career decisions? Why/why not? What would you change?" (yes, n = 18; no, n = 58); (d) "In retrospect, are there any things you would have done differently? If yes, please tell us what." (yes, n = 26; no, n = 50); and (e) "Any regrets?" (yes, n = 14; no, n = 56).3 Because the first question asked specifically about career-related opportunities missed, responses to subsequent questions may well have been biased toward content in that domain. Analyses of these five items suggest that they comprise a highly internally consistent measure (a = .76) reflecting regrets about traditional roles. Moreover, the item used to assess traditional role regrets in 1981 (Item 1 in 1992) was highly correlated (r = .71) with a scale composed of the other four 1992 items (Items 2 through 5; a = .64). These analyses foster confidence in the reliability of the age 36 measure of traditional role regret. Career-related goals at age 36. Career-related goals were coded from open-ended responses to the question "As you think of your future life, what is your picture of the way you'd like life to work out for you?" The coding focused solely on expressions of goals related to career, education, or work opportunities, which were coded as none (no career goal mentioned or continue on the same track, n = 39), incremental change desired (continue on same track with advancement or promotion, n = 15), or major change desired (new job trajectory wanted, n = 27). Examples of responses coded none were "continuing as a psychologist," and "more of the same." Examples of incremental change desired were "become general counsel of a major corporation," and "get tenure." Examples of major change desired were "return to graduate school" and "start my own small business." The coding was completed by two coders, and interrater reliability coefficients calculated at various times during the coding ranged from .89 to .93. Desired career-relevant changes made from age 36 to age 47. To assess whether women's career-relevant changes following regret were desired, or chosen, by themselves versus imposed on them by situational exigencies or another person (such as a spouse or partner), we coded their year-by-year activities from age 36 to age 47, which they related in response to the following open-ended question:

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In the spaces on the next two pages, please indicate as fully as possible the places you have lived, and the activities that have occupied your time, each year, for the last twelve years. Some examples might be "got divorced and went to work for the March of Dimes working on legislation for funding," "Took a course in modern dance while living in California—also decided to apply for teaching jobs," and so on. We know that in some cases you will have difficulty recalling your activities; however, we would appreciate as much detail as possible. One way of recalling might be to locate a pivotal event that you do recall, and then work backward and forward in time from it. The coding focused on career and educational changes (referred to as career-relevant changes) such as entering or leaving graduate school or career training programs, entering or leaving jobs, and receiving job promotions or demotions. Such changes were coded as either desired or not desired by two coders with interrater reliability coefficients taken at various times during the coding ranging from .87 to .91. A career-relevant change was coded as desired if (a) the woman indicated that the change was something she had been striving for, working toward, or simply desired (i.e., there was clear indication that the change was desired) or (b) there was no indication that the change wasn't desired, and it was generally the kind of change someone would choose (e.g., "got promoted"). Examples of desired career-relevant changes included "finished doctorate and began teaching at a university," "finally realized that I had always wanted to be a doctor and went to medical school," and "left present company to try a U.S. multinational." A career-relevant change was coded as not desired if (a) there was clear indication that the change was not desired by the woman herself, was the result of other people's decisions or influences on her life (such as having to give up a rewarding job as a consequence of a spouse's career move), or both or (b) the woman did not explicitly state that the change was not desired, but it was generally not the kind of change someone would choose (e.g., "got demoted," was fired, was laid off, etc.). Examples of careerrelevant "changes that were not desired were as follows: "My husband left me so I started a bed and breakfast because I had to do something to keep from starving." "I took the church secretary job because I hate being 'on the dole' from my husband. 'We' have lots of money, T don't!" Over the 11-year period from 1981 to 1992 (i.e., between ages 36 and 47), participants could obviously have had both kinds of career-relevant changes (desired or not). For the purpose of examining our hypotheses, participants were categorized into one of two groups: (a) women with any desired career-relevant changes (n = 57) or (b) women who had no desired career-relevant changes (n = 26). Contextual barriers to change. We recognized that some women's lives included external obstacles to the changes they might desire. Some of these might be impossible to assess with our data, such as a partner's psychological need for an at-home spouse. However, others could be examined. Using demographic information that reflected the women's family responsibilities at age 36, we coded the following contextual barriers to change as present or absent (1 = present, 0 = absent): (a) responsibility for children under the age of five (yes, n = 39; no, n = 45), (b) single parenthood (yes, n = 3; no, n = 80), (c) unemployed spouse contributing no income (yes, n = 1; no, n = 82), and (d) spouse with a

2 Thus, among women who indicated that they would do things differently (n = 60), most (85%) expressed regrets about the traditionality of their role involvements (mainly in terms of education and career). A much smaller proportion of women with regrets (15%) lamented their lack of traditional role involvements, and these were uniformly centered around family (rather than any aspect of work or education). 3 Question 1 is identical to the question used to measure traditional role regret at age 36 in Study 1 (Michigan sample); Question 2 is identical to the question used to measure traditional role regret at age 37 in Study 2 (Radcliffe sample).

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high-level and demanding executive or professional position (e.g., president or vice president, diplomat, law firm partner, etc.; yes, n = 26; no, n = 57). Because individual barriers were often low in frequency (presence ranged from 1 to 39), the four barriers were summed to create total contextual barrier scores (M = 0.84, SD = 0.72, range = 0 to 3). Where frequency allowed, we also examined the presence of individual barriers separately.

Well-Being at Age 47 Because scholars in this area have advocated a multidimensional approach to well-being (e.g., Andrews & Robinson, 1991; Ryff, 1989), we examined four different types of indicators generally viewed as important components of overall well-being: symptoms of psychological distress (i.e., depression and anxiety), physical well-being, overall life satisfaction, and adult adjustment. Symptoms of psychological distress. At age 47, the women completed the Zung self-rating depression (1965) and anxiety scales (1971b). The scales ask participants to rate emotional and physical symptoms associated with anxiety (feeling panicky, having shaking hands) or depression (feeling blue, loss of appetite), respectively, on a 4-point scale ranging from never (1) to nearly all the time (4). Scores are derived by dividing the sum of the raw scores by the maximum score of 80 (most anxious or most depressed, respectively) and are thus expressed as a proportion ranging from .25 to 1.00 (anxiety scale a = .80, M = .45, SD = .07; depression scale a = .85, M = .41, SD = .07). Physical well-being. At age 47, the women were asked to rate their general state of health on a 5-point scale ranging from poor (1) to excellent (5), as well as their energy level on a 5-point scale ranging from low (1) to high (5). Measures of overall health and energy are generally highly reliable and strongly correlated with "objective" measures such as physicians' assessments (Bird & Fremont, 1991; Okun & George, 1984). The items were standardized and combined to create a two-item scale assessing physical well-being (scale a = .78, M = .11, SD = .87). Life satisfaction. At ages 36 and 47 participants responded to a widely used and highly reliable measure of overall life satisfaction (Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991) that asks, "Overall, are you satisfied with the way your life has turned out thus far?" on a 3-point scale (1 = not very satisfied, 2 = fairly satisfied, 3 = very satisfied; age 36, M = 2.50, SD = 0.55; age 47, M = 2.42, SD = 0.64). Robinson et al. advocated the use of single-item measures of life satisfaction as they are highly correlated with multiple-item measures, are just as reliable, and have the added advantage of being less taxing for respondents. Index of adult adjustment. Active engagement in different areas of life (work, intimate relationships, family, etc.) has long been conceptualized as a measure of effective social functioning (see, e.g., Levinson, 1978; Vaillant, 1977). To assess this, we used Picano's (1986) Life History Index of Adult Adjustment (IAA), developed specifically for adult women using Vaillant's criteria for men. The IAA is scored to reflect positive adjustment, with each item scored dichotomously; respondents receive 1 point for responses reflecting positive adjustment on each item. Items are summed to yield an overall score reflecting adjustment in four areas of life (career, social-interpersonal, psychological health, and physical health). We used a short form of the total index (20 items), using the 6 items (from all four areas) that accounted for 80% of the variance in the total adjustment score as reported by Picano (1986). These 6 items were (a) no disruption or curtailment of daily activities by illness, (b) enjoyment of work, (c) absence of drug use, (d) 10 years or more of stable marriage, (e) satisfaction with remuneration at work, and (f) absence of a period of significant psychological distress (M = 3.84, SD = 1.29). The IAA has good reliability and external validity (reported in detail in Picano, 1986), and other researchers have found that this approach yields a measure of adult adjustment that is related to well-being in adulthood (e.g., Franz, McClelland, & Weinberger, 1991).4

Relationships among well-being indices. The four indices of wellbeing are intercorrelated to some degree. The anxiety and depression scales are in fact highly correlated (.73 in this sample; it is in this range in most; see, e.g., Zung, 1971a). However, the average intercorrelation of each well-being measure with all other measures of well-being is quite modest (anxiety mean r = .30; depression mean r = .36; physical well-being mean r = .38; life satisfaction mean r = .22; adult adjustment mean r = .30). Given these significant but modest average intercorrelations and their conceptual distinctness, it seemed wise to retain them as separate indicators.

Personality Resources Because we were interested in the extent to which personality resources were related to the women's ability to act on their regrets and make desired changes, we examined two personality characteristics at age 47: effective instrumentality and rumination (see, e.g., Bandura, 1986; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1994). Individual differences in effective instrumentality and rumination were measured using data from the California Adult Q-set (CAQ; Block 1961/ 1978). The 1992 questionnaire data were studied by three to five raters, who then formulated personality descriptions of each woman by means of Q-sorting the 100-item CAQ. The comprehensive set of questionnaires consisting of open- and closed-ended measures provided a rich and differentiated impression of each woman's life to that point. This was true even though all material was removed from rating files that provided the basis for measures of regret, future goals, changes, and well-being. These exclusions were, of course, essential to ensuring that no two variables were based on the same or overlapping data. Block and Haan (1971) and Helson (1992) have shown that Q sorts based on questionnaire files such as these provide extremely useful summaries of observers' impressions of personality. Though no attempt is made to induce consistency of judgments, because"'the goal is to aggregate somewhat different views of a person, interjudge reliabilities for the CAQ composites in this sample ranged from .58 to .91, with a mean of .77. Effective instrumentality. We conceptualized effective instrumentality as a broad sense of personal efficacy coupled with a repertoire of coping skills and investment in life projects, which substantially overlaps with the views of many others (e.g., efficacy, Bandura, 1977; locus of control, Rotter, 1966; personal causation, de Charms, 1976; perception of control, Langer, 1983; and helplessness, Seligman, 1975, among others), and we explicitly relied on such theories to choose Q-sort items indicative of effective instrumentality. A measure of effective instrumentality was created by averaging the women's scores on seven Q-sort items: assertive,

4

It is important to note that this index is most appropriately thought of as a measure of conventional adult adjustment. That is, in addition to signs of illness and stress, respondents acquire "adjustment points" for such things as being legally married and remaining in that marriage for at least 10 years (thus, they must be in a legally sanctioned heterosexual relationship) and enjoying their work and feeling happy with their pay (thus, they must be in the paid labor force). On the one hand, these kinds of engagements are certainly used by many (both by self and by others) to judge the success or achievement of individuals in our society. On the other hand, it is important to acknowledge that these kinds of behaviors can also occur in the presence of significant distress (e.g., individuals who remain in poor or abusive marriages, the lesbian or gay person who legally marries because of fear of the very real social consequences of being "discovered"). In addition, the lack of engagement in these kinds of conventional social accomplishments can occur in the presence of significant well-being (e.g., women who choose not to marry or remarry after divorce, etc.). Thus, the particular meaning of this measure should be kept in mind when interpreting the results.

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MIDLIFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING productive, high aspirations, acts decisively, gives up easily (reverse scored), delays action (reverse scored), and self-defeating (reversed scored; scale a = .86, M = 6.81, SD = 1.13). Rumination. On the basis of the work of Nolen-Hoeksema and her colleagues (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1994), we conceptualized rumination as a tendency to focus on negative life events or life circumstances. This tendency amounts to a self-defeating (and possibly depressive) personal style. Although Nolen-Hoeksema and her colleagues (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1994) were careful to distinguish between rumination about a depressed mood (i.e., depressive rumination) and the tendency to focus on one's failures, our measure makes no such distinction, as it is based on observer ratings of a set of comprehensive questions. Thus, we labeled it simply rumination and created scale scores by averaging responses to six Q-sort items: tends to ruminate, self-pitying, interprets clear-cut situations in complicated ways, negativistic, moody, and cheerful (reverse scored; scale a = .71, M = 3.45, SD = .82).

Analysis Plan To address our hypothesis that traditional role regrets would serve as motivation for change, we examined the relationships between concurrent traditional role regrets and career-related goals and between earlier traditional role regrets and subsequent desired career-relevant changes using nonparametric statistics. We also focused on a particularly important group: those with regrets who did not make changes in subsequent years. Our hope is that we can identify how this particular group differs from other groups—specifically, those with regrets who did make changes and sometimes also those without regrets. In the first instance, we asked whether women with regrets who did not make changes faced more external barriers to change in their lives than those who had regrets and did make changes. In parallel fashion, we hypothesized that acting on regrets would enhance midlife well-being, whereas failing to act on them would lower midlife well-being. Finally, we predicted that the personality resource of effective instrumentality enhances women's capacity to act on their regrets, whereas rumination interferes with this capacity. These hypotheses involve comparisons (of barriers, well-being, and personality, respectively) between two specific pairs of groups: (a) women with traditional role regrets who did not make desired career-relevant changes and those who did (i.e., regret-no change

vs. regret with change) and (b) women with traditional role regrets who did not make desired career-relevant changes and all other groups combined (i.e., regret-no change vs. regret with change, no regret-no change, and no regret with change). Because we expected that women with traditional role regrets who did not make desired career-relevant changes would have lower well-being, lower levels of effective instrumentality, and higher levels of rumination than any of the three comparison groups, we performed planned comparisons to examine these hypotheses.

Results Results of analyses examining relationships between concurrent traditional role regrets and career-related goals and between earlier traditional role regrets and subsequent desired career-relevant changes are presented in Table 1. Having traditional role regrets was significantly related to having concurrent career-related goals, ^ ( 2 , N = 81) = 15.66, p < .001, but was not related to later making desired career-relevant changes, ^ ( 1 , N = 83) = 0.22, ns. Thus, it seems that although traditional role regrets may be related to an inner desire or motivation for change, such regret by itself is not necessarily related to actually making desired career-relevant changes. We also considered whether contextual barriers to change were more prominent in the lives of women who had regrets, but did not make changes, when compared with women with regrets who did. Because these two groups did not significantly differ in whether or not they experienced any single contextual barrier, we present the average number of barriers experienced by each group in Table 1. As can be seen in this table, the difference between these groups on the average number of contextual barriers was also not significant, ^49) = 0.60. Thus, it does not appear that women in this cohort with traditional role regrets who did not make subsequent desired career-relevant changes experienced any more contextual barriers than those with regrets who did make such changes—at least in terms of barriers reflecting family responsibilities. To address our second set of hypotheses, we examined differences in midlife well-being and personality resources of groups

Table 1 Michigan Sample: Relationships Among Traditional Role Regret, Career-Related Goals, Desired Career-Relevant Changes, and Contextual Barriers to Change

Career-related goals (age 36) Variable (age 36) Absence of traditional role regret Presence of traditional role regret Mean contextual barriers to change

Desired career-relevant changes (age 36 to age 47)

None

Incremental change desired

Major change desired

No desired changes made

Any desired changes made

74% (23)

16% (5)

10% (3)

34% (11)

66% (21)

32% (16)

20% (10)

48% (24)

29% (15)

71% (36)

Traditional rolf : regret (age 36) by desired career-relevant changes (age 36 Ito age 47) Regret-no change (n = 15)

Regret with change (n = 36)

1.00(0.55)

0.86 (0.79)

Note. For career-related goals and desired career-relevant changes, row percentages add up to 100; numbers in parentheses indicate the number of participants associated with each percentage. For contextual barriers to change, numbers in parentheses indicate the standard deviation associated with each

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defined according to earlier traditional role regret and subsequent desired career-relevant change. The means and standard deviations of all groups on all well-being and personality variables are presented in Table 2. The results of the planned comparisons between the two groups of women with traditional role regrets at age 36 indicate that those who made no desired career-relevant changes from age 36 to age 47 were significantly more depressed, ?(79) = -3.30, p < .001, were significantly more anxious, r(79) = -3.00,p < .01, and felt significantly less physically healthy, r(78) = 2.90, p < .01, at age 47 than those who had made desired changes. However, these two groups did not differ in terms of life satisfaction or adult adjustment at midlife. This overall pattern of results was confirmed when the midlife well-being of women with earlier traditional role regrets who made no subsequent desired career-relevant changes was compared with the other three groups as a whole. Again, women who did not make changes were more depressed, ;(79) = 3.42, p < .001, were more anxious, f(79) = 3.18, p < .01, and felt less physically healthy, r(78) = 2.21, p < .05, than all others. Also as before, these two comparison groups did not differ on overall life satisfaction or adult adjustment. In order to rule out the possibility that prior well-being might be a more important determinant of later well-being than regret and desired change, we performed the same analyses, using life satisfaction at age 36 (the only prior well-being variable available in this study) as a covariate for all well-being indicators at age 47. Using earlier life satisfaction as a covariate did not change the results of the well-being analyses reported above. Finally, the results of the planned comparisons examining personality differences (see Table 2 for group means and standard deviations) indicate that women with traditional role regrets at age 36 who did not make desired career-relevant changes from age 36 to age 47 scored significantly lower on effective instrumentality at age 47, *(78) = 2.39, p < .05, and significantly higher on rumination, ?(78) = —2.02, p < .05, than women with traditional role regrets who did make desired career-relevant changes. When women with traditional role regrets who did not make

desired career-relevant changes were compared with the other three groups together, they scored significantly lower on effective instrumentality, f(78) = 2.35, p < .05, but were not significantly different on rumination.

Discussion The results of our analyses provide some support for all of our hypotheses. First, there is evidence of regret-motivated goal setting for this sample of women, but it did not seem to motivate successful change. Making the kinds of changes we examined was not rare in this sample; many of the women with and without regrets made changes. However, it is clear that some of the women with traditional role regrets did not make life changes relevant to those regrets, despite having expressed the desire to make those changes. Perhaps actually making changes requires additional resources. Second, those with regrets who did make changes were better off in terms of well-being than those who did not. They did not differ in the presence of contextual barriers to change, at least insofar as we were able to measure them. However, they did differ in terms of the personality characteristics that might account for their capacity to make life changes successfully. Though these results are encouraging, we note that the sample is relatively small and we used new measures of effective instrumentality and rumination. In addition, the measures of well-being, change, and personality resources were all obtained at the same time. These limitations in the data underscored the usual motive to replicate intriguing new results. Study 2

Method Participants The women in this sample are participants in Stewart's longitudinal study of the graduates of the Radcliffe College Class of 1964 (Stewart, 1974, 1978, 1980; Stewart & Salt, 1981; Stewart & Vandewater, 1993). The current study used data collected from the women in 1979 (n = 133),

Table 2 Michigan Sample: Planned Comparisons of Traditional Role Regret (at Age 36) by Desired Career-Relevant Change Groups (at Age 36 to 47) on Later Well-Being and Personality in Midlife Comparison 1 Regret-no change Variable Well-being (age 47) Depression Anxiety Physical well-being Life satisfaction Adult adjustment Personality (age 47) Effective instrumentality Rumination

Comparison 2

Regret with change

Regret-no change

All other groups

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

.48, .50, -.41, 2.33 3.33

.07 .09 1.12 0.48 1.11

.40, •44, •35, 2.43 3.86

.08 .06 .76 0.60 1.37

•48, •50, -•41. 2.33 3.33

.07 .09 1.12 0.48 1.11

.40, •43, 2.48 3.96

.07 .07 .78 0.62 1.30

6.15, 3.80,

1.52 1.22

6.96, 3.29,

0.85 0.61

6.15, 3.80

1.52 1.22

6.99, 3.42

0.99 0.70

•23,

Note. Means with different subscripts differ significantly at p < .05. Regret-no change, n = 15; regret with change, n = 36; no regret-no change, n = 21; no regret with change, n = 11.

MIDLEFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING 1986 (n = 103), and 1991 (n = 149), when they were, respectively, ages 37,43, and 48. As with the Michigan sample, in each wave the women were asked basic demographic questions and a number of open-ended questions about their lives and (after the first wave) completed standardized measures of well-being. In addition, personality characteristics were assessed by observers at age 43. Analyses for this study focus on the 76 women with complete data who participated in all three waves examined here. Analyses aimed at assessing potential bias in this sample were conducted on all available variables (including demographic information, well-being variables, and personality variables). These analyses did not reveal systematic differences between the participants selected for this study and those omitted because of missing data. Vandewater, Ostrove, and Stewart (1997) reported no detectable bias in this sample on similar variables.

Description of the Sample At age 48, 74% of the sample were married, 21% were currently divorced, and 5% had never been married. Eighty-seven percent of the women had become mothers (on average, at about age 29), and they had an average of two children. By age 48, 29% of these women had earned a doctoral-level degree, and 42% had earned a master's-level degree. At age 37, 83% of the sample were engaged in the paid labor force; at age 48, 86% of them were. Those women who were employed in the paid labor force at age 48 tended to be concentrated in the upper end of a work status scale (Hollingshead & Redlich, 1956); 49% of them were major professionals (e.g., physicians, college professors), 22% were minor professionals (e.g., certified public accountants, social workers), and 28% were in administrative or clerical jobs. At age 48, the women's median income was between $30,000 and $49,000 a year.

Measures Most measures obtained for this sample were identical with those used in Study 1 and are described in detail in the Study 1 section. These include desired career changes from age 37 to age 43 (asked with an identical question and coded by the same expert coders used in the Michigan sample; any desired career-relevant changes, n = 45; no desired careerrelevant changes, n = 31); contextual barriers to change at age 37— namely, responsibility for children under the age of five (yes, n = 35; no, n = 41), single parenthood (yes, n = 10; no, n = 66), unemployed spouse contributing no income (yes, n = 4; no, n = 72), and spouse with a high-level and demanding executive or professional position (yes, n = 38; no, n = 38; sum across barriers M = 1.14, SD = 0.78, range = 0 to 3); symptoms of psychological distress at ages 33 and 43 (anxiety at age 33 M = .38, SD = .06; anxiety at age 43 M = .39, SD = .07; depression at age 33 M = .38, SD = .07; depression at age 43 M = .40, SD = .09); physical well-being at age 47 (M = - . 0 1 , SD = .89, a = .78); life satisfaction at ages 37 and 48 (age 37 M = 2.48, SD = 0.55; age 48 M = 2.49, SD = 0.60); adult adjustment at age 43 (M = 4.69, SD = 1.31); and Q-sort measures of effective instrumentality and rumination at age 43 (interjudge reliabilities for this sample were equivalent to those for Michigan: range = .60 to .91, M = .77; effective instrumentality M = 6.81, SD = 1.35, scale a = .89; rumination M = 3.48, SD = 1.06, scale a = .78). In addition, although the coding systems for traditional role regrets and career-related goals were identical to those used in the Michigan sample (and the coding was completed by the same expert coders), the questions themselves were slightly different. The measurement of these variables in the Radcliffe sample are discussed in detail below. Regrets about pursuing traditional roles for women. The item used to assess traditional role regrets in this sample at age 37 (in 1979) was "If you had it to do over again, would you choose the same lifestyle pattern—with respect to your home versus career decision(s)?" (yes, n = 26; no, n = 50).

277

Examples of traditional role regrets for this cohort were "I would have planned a career other than teaching, because now I know that you can do other things and be a mother—if you marry a helpful mate," "I would change my devotional attitude towards my husband—which I assumed from my mother," and "I regret not having a career." Examples of regrets that were not about traditional roles were "I would have gotten married and had children," "I might just have picked a career without night call" (from a physician), and "I wouldn't change anything—no one in their right mind would stay home and change diapers if they could be a scientist instead" (an example of no regret). As in the Michigan sample, the majority of these women expressed regret in one specific area (85%) whereas a minority (15%) expressed two regrets. For the Radcliffe cohort, traditional role regrets overwhelmingly focused on career (65%), with far fewer in the area of education (19%; in contrast to the Michigan cohort, in which traditional role regrets were more evenly distributed between these areas). Similar to the Michigan sample, smaller proportions of the Radcliffe women's traditional role regrets focused on marriage (8%) and parenting (27%). Among women without regrets about traditional roles, 81% had no regrets at all. Of the remaining 19%, roughly one third indicated that they would change careers, one third indicated that they would make parenting changes, and one third indicated that they did not have enough leisure time. Because both of the slightly different questions used in the two samples were collected in the 1992 wave of the Michigan study, we were able to address the issues of measure similarity and reliability to some extent. When the reliability of the regret items identical to those in the Michigan (at age 36) and Radcliffe (at age 37) samples was analyzed as a two-item scale in the later Michigan data, they had an alpha coefficient of .72. Not only is this a highly reliable coefficient for a two-item measure, it is not appreciably lower than the internal consistency of the five-item measure of traditional role regret reported earlier (a = .76). In addition, the item used in the Radcliffe sample was fairly highly correlated (r = .48) with a reliable {et = .74) scale composed of the other four life review items asked of the Michigan sample in 1992. These findings foster confidence in the regret measure used in the Radcliffe sample and also support the notion that although questions were worded slightly differently for the two samples, they captured fairly comparable responses. Career-related goals at age 37. In 1979, the women were asked, "If you could do anything you wished in the next ten years, what would you do?" For this sample, the coding of career-related goals produced the following results: none, n = 34; incremental change desired, n = 20; major change desired, n = 22.

Comparison of the Samples In order to aid interpretation of results, in the two studies, we conducted analyses comparing the samples on key variables (i.e., traditional role regret, career-related goals, career-relevant changes, barriers to change, well-being, and personality; see Table 3). As can be seen in Table 3, nearly twice as many women in the Michigan sample had traditional role regrets in their late thirties compared with the Radcliffe sample. However, the samples did not differ in terms of having career-related goals at that age period nor in terms of having made career-relevant changes by their mid-forties. On the other hand, the proportions of women with varying combinations of traditional role regret and career changes were significantly different in the two cohorts. In the Michigan sample, the largest percentage of women who made career-relevant changes were those with traditional role regrets; in the Radcliffe sample, the largest percentage of women who made career-relevant changes had no traditional role regrets. In addition, women in the Radcliffe sample experienced significantly more contextual barriers to change than did women in the Michigan sample. In terms of the presence of individual barriers to change in their mid-thirties, significantly more Radcliffe women were single parents—

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Table 3 Comparison of Michigan and Radcliffe Samples on Key Variables Michigan (n = 83)

Variable

Radcliffe (n = 76)

Significance test

a

Regrets, goals, and change Traditional role regret Career-related goalsb Desired career-relevant changes Traditional role regret by career change No regret-no desired change No regret-desired change Regret-no desired change Regret-desired change Contextual barriers to change Well-being0 Depression Anxiety Physical well-being Life satisfaction Adult adjustment Personality11 Effective instrumentality Rumination Late thirties life outcomes0 Marital status Single, never married Married Divorced or separated Became a mother* Number of children Work status8 Not working for pay White collar job Minor professional Major professional Education Bachelor's level Master's level Doctoral level Personal income

61% (51) 52% (42) 69% (57)

36% (28) 55% (42) 59% (45)

13% (11) 25% (21) 18% (15) 44% (36) .84 (.72)

26% 37% 13% 24% 1.14

.41 (.07) .45 (.07) .10 (.87) 2.46 (0.67) 3.84 (1.29)

.40 (.09) .39 (.07) -.01 (.89) 2.49 (0.55) 4.69(1.31)

6.81 (1.13) 3.45 (0.82)

6.81 (1.35) 3.48 (1.06)

10% (8) 83% (69) 7% (6) 76% (63) 1.55(1.10)

. 5% (4) 82% (62) 13% (10) 80% (61) 1.81 (1.37)

24% 35% 22% 19%

18% (14) 25% (19) 16% (12) 41% (31)

(22) (28) (9) (17) (.78)

^ ( l , N = 159) = 11.78*** ns ns ^ ( 1 , N = 159) = 10.32**

r(157) = -2.53* ns ?(157) = -4.35*** ns ns f(157) = 4.14*** ns ns ns

(20) (29) (18) (16)

ns ns ^ ( 3 , N = 159) = 8.83*

ns 48% (40) 29% (24) 23% (19) $14,668.75 (14,299.23)

37% (28) 37% (28) 26% (19) $15,539.47 (14,102.43)

ns

Note. For percentages, numbers in parentheses indicate the number of participants associated with each percentage; for means, numbers in parentheses indicate the standard deviation associated with each mean. a Michigan sample regrets and goals at age 36; desired career-relevant changes from age 36 to age 47. Radcliffe sample regrets and goals at age 37; desired career-relevant changes from age 37 to age 43. Percentages and sample sizes refer to number of participants who have traditional role regrets, or who made desired careerrelevant changes, and so forth. b Women with either incremental or major career goals were combined in this analysis as indicative of having career-related goals. c Michigan well-being measured at age 47. Radcliffe depression, anxiety, and adult adjustment measured at age 43; physical well-being and life satisfaction measured at age 48. d Personality measured at age 47 in Michigan and age 43 in Radcliffe. e All life outcome variables measured at age 36 in Michigan and age 37 in Radcliffe. f Includes biological and adopted children. s From HoIIingshead and Redlich (1956). Examples of white collar are administrative or clerical jobs, examples of minor professionals are certified public accountants or social workers, and examples of major professionals are physicians or college professors. */>< .05. * * / > < . 0 1 . * * * / ? < . 0 0 1 .

13% versus 4% in the Michigan sample, r(157) = 2.17, p < .05—and had spouses with extremely demanding careers—76% versus 35% in the Michigan sample, f(157) = 4.84, p < .001. However, they did not differ on the other two barriers we examined. Thus, it appears that the larger number of total barriers among the Radcliffe women in early midlife is largely due to sample differences in these two particular contextual barriers. Compared with the Radcliffe cohort, the Michigan cohort was more

anxious and scored lower on adult adjustment. However, the samples did not differ on well-being measures of depression, physical well-being, or life satisfaction, nor did they differ on personality resources. In an effort to provide a context for differences in rates of traditional role regret in the Michigan and Radcliffe cohorts, we conducted further analyses examining differences between them on early work and family-life outcomes (at ages 36 and 37, respectively; see Table 3).

279

MIDLIFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING These analyses indicated that the Radcliffe sample had significantly higher occupational status than the Michigan sample at the time when traditional role regrets were measured. However, the samples did not differ on any other work or family-life outcomes in their late thirties, including marital status, motherhood, number of children, educational achievement, or personal income.

Analysis Plan Because we wanted to replicate our findings from the Michigan sample, we conducted identical analyses, using nonparametric statistics, bivariate correlations, and planned comparisons where appropriate. Because this is a replication, we report these findings in terms of one-tailed significance levels. Because we also wanted to extend the findings to capitalize on the longitudinal data available only for the Radcliffe sample, we conducted path analyses assessing the role of age 43 personality as a mediator of the impact on age 48 well-being of regret at age 37 and change by age 43 (Baron & Kenny, 1986), controlling for age 37 well-being.

Results In order to examine our first hypothesis in the slightly older and less regretful Radcliffe women, we analyzed the relationship between traditional role regrets and career goals in the Radcliffe sample at age 37, as well as the relationship between regrets, contextual barriers, and career-relevant changes from age 37 to age 43 (see Table 4). As was true for the Michigan sample, these analyses indicated that having traditional role regrets was related to setting career-related goals, )f(2, N = 16) = 6.70, p < .05, but not to making desired career-relevant changes, ^ ( l , N = 76) = 0.62, ns. However, unlike the Michigan sample, Radcliffe women with regrets at age 37 who made desired career changes had more total contextual barriers at age 37 than women with regrets who did not make changes, r(24) = —3.52, p < .01. Obviously, the presence of "barriers" did not account for women's change-making. Our next step was to examine differences among the women grouped according to regrets about traditional roles and careerrelevant changes on the various indices of midlife well-being and

personality (see Table 5 for group means and standard deviations). In contrast to the Michigan sample, the two groups of women with traditional role regrets (who either did or did not make later career-relevant changes) in the Radcliffe sample did not differ in terms of depression or anxiety. However, like the Michigan sample, women with traditional role regrets who did not make careerrelevant changes reported lower levels of physical health, f(67) = 1.82, p < .05, in midlife. Finally, in this sample, women with traditional role regrets who did not make later career-relevant changes scored lower on adult adjustment than women with such regrets who did make later changes, t(72) = 1.94, p < .05. Again, this overall pattern of results was repeated when women with traditional role regrets who did not make later career-relevant changes were compared with the other three groups as a whole. That is, they did not differ on measures of depression or anxiety. However, they felt significantly less healthy compared with others, ?(67) = 2.28, p < .01, and they scored lower on adult adjustment, f(72) = 2.29, p< .01. To rule out the impact of earlier well-being in this sample, we performed these same analyses using life satisfaction at age 37 as a covariate for all well-being variables at age 43 and age 48. Again, using earlier life satisfaction as a covariate did not change the results of the well-being analyses reported above. In this sample we also had depression and anxiety scores at age 33 for a subsample of women (n = 46). Using these variables as covariates did not change the results of the well-being analyses reported above. Moreover, the regret-no change group was not different from the two comparison groups on these measures of earlier well-being. In terms of personality resources (see Table 5 for group means and standard deviations), the results of the planned comparisons indicated that women in this sample with traditional role regrets at age 37 who did not make desired career-relevant changes from age 37 to 43 scored significantly lower on effective instrumentality at age 43, f(72) = 2.68, p < .01, and significantly higher on rumination, r(72) = —3.02, p < .01, than women with traditional role regrets who did make such changes over that period. This

Table 4 Radcliffe Sample: Relationships Among Traditional Role Regret, Career-Related Goals, Desired Career-Relevant Changes, and Contextual Barriers to Change

Career-related goals (age 37) Variable (age 37) Absence of traditional role regret Presence of traditional role regret Mean contextual barriers to change

Desired career-relevant changes (age 37 to age 43)

None

Incremental change desired

Major change desired

No desired changes made

Any desired changes made

50% (25)

30% (15)

20% (10)

44% (22)

56% (28)

35% (9)

19% (5)

46% (12)

35% (9)

65% (17)

Traditional role regret (age 37) by desired career-relevant changes (age 37 to age 43) Regret-no change (n = 9)

Regret with change (n = 17)

0.60(0.69)

1.50(0.62)

Note. For career-related goals and desired career-relevant changes, row percentages add up to 100; numbers in parentheses indicate the number of participants associated with each percentage. For contextual barriers to change, numbers in parentheses indicate the standard deviation associated with each

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Table 5 Radcliffe Sample: Planned Comparisons of Traditional Role Regret (at Age 37) by Desired Career-Relevant Change Groups (at Age 37 to 43) on Well-Being and Personality in Midlife Comparison 1 Regret-no change Variable Well-being" Depression Anxiety Adult adjustment Physical well-being Life satisfaction Personality (age 43) Effective instrumentality Rumination

Comparison 2

Regret with change

Regret-no change

All other groups

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

.41 .42 3.70a -.65a 2.33

.13 .11 1.88 1.01 0.50

.44 .42 4.66b 2.56

.07 .06 1.18 0.70 0.62

.41 .42 3.70a -0.65 a 2.33

.13 .11 1.88 1.01 0.50

.40 .39 4.84,, 0.08h 2.52

.09 .07 1.14 0.85 0.57

5.28a 4.62a

1.81 1.62

6.55h 3.44,,

1.30 0.78

5.28a 4.61 a

1.81 1.62

7.05b 3-31,,

1.11 0.84

o.oih

Note. Means with different subscripts differ significantly at p < .05. Regret-no change, n = 9; regret with change, n = 17; no regret-no change, n = 22; no regret with change, n = 28. a Depression, anxiety, and adult adjustment measured at age 43; physical well-being and life satisfaction measured at age 48.

pattern of results was repeated when women with traditional role regrets who did not make desired career changes were compared with the other three groups as a whole: effective instrumentality, r(72) = 4.17, p < .01; rumination, ((72) = -3.84, p < .01. Finally, because the age 48 well-being results did suggest lower well-being among women who had regrets and did not make changes by age 43, we performed regression analyses to evaluate the hypothesized role of personality as a mediator of the relationship between regret with or without desired career-relevant change and well-being. In Figure 1, we present results of two sets of path analyses, in which the role of each of the two personality variables (effective instrumentality and rumination) was assessed as a mediator of the relationship between a dummy variable indicating regret at age 37 without change by age 43, and age 48 well-being (assessed in terms of physical health), controlling for age 37 well-being. Using Baron and Kenny's (1986) procedure for estimating the mediational effect of a variable, we found that once the personality variables were inserted into the paths, the direct relationship between traditional role regret without change and wellbeing was reduced, whereas strong relationships between the dummy variable and personality, and between personality and well-being, remained.5

Discussion Results of these analyses did largely replicate the results with the Michigan sample. First, we found exactly the same pattern of results for goal setting. Early midlife regret seemed to motivate goal setting but was not associated with actual life change by age 43. Moreover, those who made changes based on their regrets did not face fewer contextual barriers to change than those who did not. We had weaker results for well-being in the Radcliffe sample, with differences emerging for physical well-being and adult adjustment, but not psychological distress. Two differences between the Michigan and the Radcliffe studies seem likely to account for these weaker results in the Radcliffe sample: Overall, there were significantly fewer women with traditional role regrets in the Radcliffe sample, and the absolute number was small (26); and the

Radcliffe sample overall was significantly higher in most measures of well-being than the Michigan sample. Finally, with respect to personality resources, the regret-no change group (in this sample as in the Michigan sample) was higher in rumination and lower in effective instrumentality than the other three groups and than the women who had regrets and did make changes. The path analyses provide support for the hypothesis that the women with regrets who did not successfully make changes are at least partially impeded by personality characteristics that block them. Specifically, the relationship between regret-no change and physical well-being was mediated by both rumination and effective instrumentality.6

General Discussion The results of these two studies provide strong support for the notion that acknowledgement of life regrets in early middle age (the result, we propose, of a process of midlife review) can motivate goal setting. However, it is also clear that regret alone is insufficient to bring about actual life changes, just as external barriers are insufficient to prevent them. If desired changes are brought about, though, it is also clear that there is a payoff in well-being in later middle age. For that reason, it is important to identify the conditions that may either interfere with or enhance

5

As has been noted several times, at age 37 the only well-being indicator was a global rating of life satisfaction. Although this measure did not differentiate between the group of women with regrets who did not make changes and other women, it was significantly correlated with age 48 physical well-being (r = .32, p < .01). For that reason, though it is certainly an imperfect control, it seemed useful. 6 Analyses revealed that because there was no direct path between regret with no change and life satisfaction at age 48, personality was not a mediator of their connection. However, regret with no change was indirectly related to later life satisfaction through personality. Having regrets and not making changes was related to more rumination and less effective instrumentality, respectively, which were in turn related to lower life satisfaction in later midlife.

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MIDLIFE REVIEW AND WELL-BEING Effective Instrumentality N Age43 \

Regret Age 37 with No Changes Made Age 37-43

B

-.21' /-.07n.s.

Rumination Age 43 .42*

Regret Age 37 with No Changes Made Age 37-43

-.21* /-.06n.s.

.28**/.25*

Physical Well-being Age 48

-.37*** / -.35*'

Physical Well-being Age 48

Figure 1. Radcliffe sample: Personality as a mediator between traditional role regret at age 37 with no subsequent changes and later physical well-being. Panel A = effective instrumentality as the mediator; Panel B = rumination as the mediator. Path coefficients were generated from hierarchical regressions controlling for life satisfaction at age 37. Regret-change was dummy coded (1 = regret with no subsequent changes, 0 = all other groups). Paired coefficients indicate results of mediation test steps (first coefficient = path with no mediator; second coefficient = path with personality as mediator). 'p < .07 (marginally significant). *p < .05. * * / ? < . 0 1 . ***/>< .001.

the probability that midlife regrets will be transformed into desired life changes. We explored the role of two personality characteristics posited to make a difference: effective instrumentality and rumination. Both were correlated (in opposite directions, as predicted) with successful transformation of regret into change; path analyses with longitudinal data from the Radcliffe sample suggested that both variables played a role in mediating that relationship. Consistent with these findings, Lyubomirksy and Nolen-Hoeksema (1995) found that people who ruminate not only are pessimistic about their ability to overcome obstacles but also generate less effective solutions to problems. Although it may be difficult to influence the tendency to ruminate directly, it may be more feasible to increase effective problem solving. It should of course be noted that we cannot be sure of the causal role of any of the variables we have examined. The availability of longitudinal data, and some control variables, strengthens our confidence in the causal relations we have hypothesized. However, it is entirely possible that unmeasured variables actually account for the relationships among having regrets, not making changes, and later midlife unhappiness. Thus, for example, poor health might prevent a woman who had acknowledged regrets from

making life changes that she desired; it might be that poor health in turn (rather than the fact of regret without changes) that was related to the ill health we assessed a decade later. We attempted to rule out as many of these explanations as possible (by drawing on age 37 well-being data and assessing contextual barriers to change), but we certainly cannot rule them all out. We also do not know whether these findings are limited mainly to the kinds of regrets these women expressed: regrets about sacrificing involvement in school and work roles in favor of family roles. Previous research suggests that these kinds of regrets are the most common ones American women have expressed in the past, but of course this may be changing for future generations. It would be very interesting, in a sample or cohort with sufficient numbers, to compare the consequences of regrets about sacrificing career in favor of family with regrets about, for example, sacrificing family for career or about failing to develop certain interests or talents. This comparison has been impossible in past and current generations of women but may well become more feasible in future ones, as well as in studies of men. Educated women who came of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s were the first American middle-class women to be able to take advantage of new opportunities for education and careers. At the same time, this generation of women was socialized in childhood and early adulthood to a traditional female role as child rearer and culture bearer. It is clear that some women in this generation managed the shift in norms and values without regrets, some without making changes. Still others were able to use regrets about their past traditional role choices to make changes in middle age. There is, though, a group of women who had regrets about their past choices but did not make changes in their lives; they seemed quite discontented in later middle age. The evidence from these two studies suggests that these women did not face more external obstacles to change in their lives, but they faced internal psychological ones, particularly a tendency to ruminate. It is unclear whether these women will be able to create a more satisfactory adaptation in their fifties or later. Future research should assess this possibility, as well as the degree to which these findings apply to men, to other generations of women, and to women with fewer economic and social resources. References Andrews, F., & Robinson, J. P. (1991). Measures of subjective well-being. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 61-110). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 4, 359—373. Bandura, A., & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, selfefficacy and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 586-598. Baron, R. M , & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. Baruch, G., Barnett, R., & Rivers, C. (1983). Lifeprints. New York: McGraw-Hill. Bird, C. E., & Fremont, A. M. (1991). Gender, time use, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32, 114-129.

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Received February 25, 1998 Revision received August 3, 1998 Accepted August 22, 1998 •