Antecedents and effects of wisdom in old age - A longitudinal perspective on aging well

Using longitudinal data on 82 White, California women from the Berkeley Gui dance Study, this study examines the relationship between wisdom (defined a s a combination of cognitive, reflective, and affective personality qualiti es) and aging well and explores the early antecedents of wisdom. In structu ral equation models with latent variables, the social environment of early adulthood has a significant positive influence on wisdom over 40 years late r, whereas mature personality characteristics during the early years of lif e and the quality of one's childhood exert no enduring effects. Wisdom in t he later years has a positive effect on women's life satisfaction, physical health, and the quality of their family relationships. Hence, wisdom appea rs to be an important predictor of aging well.