Purpose in Life Among Older Adults: A Machine Learning Analysis of Potential Predictors

Abstract

A sense of purpose is a central component of mental well-being in older adulthood. Although many predictors of purpose have been identified, most studies have considered a limited set, leaving their relative importance unclear. The present study addressed this gap by examining a large set of psychological, social, and demographic variables in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults from the Health and Retirement Study. Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) was used to evaluate 47 predictors. Self-esteem emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by positive affect. The leading predictors were organized into six domains: adaptive self-related beliefs, affective well-being, perceived control, optimism, social engagement, and spirituality/religiosity. Demographic variables were less predictive overall. These findings indicate that individual differences in purpose are associated with a broad set of psychological resources involving self-regulation, interpersonal processes, optimism, and positive affect.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 2026 · DOI ↗