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Are Older Adults Wiser Than College Students? A Comparison of Two Age Cohorts

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Abstract

This study examined whether (a) older adults are wiser than college students, (b) college-educated older adults are wiser than current college students, and (c) wise older adults show evidence of personal growth. Using a sample of 477 undergraduate college students and 178 older adults (age 52+), results showed that college students tended to score as high on the self-administered three-dimensional wisdom scale (3D-WS) as older adults. However, college-educated older adults tended to score significantly higher on the reflective and affective dimensions of wisdom and the overall score of the 3D-WS and than did current college students. Qualitative evidence suggests that many older adults, particularly in the top 20% of wisdom scorers, grew wiser with age by learning from life experiences. The results indicate that wisdom might increase with age for individuals with the opportunity and motivation to pursue its development.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Orli Zaprir and Steve Jacobs for suggestions and comments on an earlier draft. Special thanks go to Anthony Stewart, Steve Jacobs, Orli Zaprir, Carla Edwards, Anna Campbell, Lisa Hamilton, Stephen Mayer, Dana Federici, Amy Monk, Brad Tripp, Elizabeth Brown, and Yvonne Combs for their help at various stages of the research project and to the research participants for their time and commitment to the study. The research was in part supported by a grant from NIH/NIA (R03 AG14855-01), a Research Initiation Project Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida, a grant from the John T. Templeton Foundation, and by the University of Florida Center for Spirituality and Health. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2006 Annual Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America in Dallas, Texas.

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    Monika Ardelt

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Ardelt, M. Are Older Adults Wiser Than College Students? A Comparison of Two Age Cohorts. J Adult Dev 17, 193–207 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-009-9088-5

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