Social Indicators Research (2006) 79: 97–115 Ó Springer 2006

DOI 10.1007/s11205-005-3516-0

GERBEN J. WESTERHOF, TOINE THISSEN, FREYA

DITTMANN-KOHLI and NAN L. STEVENS

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? A TAXONOMY OF LIFE

PROBLEMS AND THEIR RELATION TO SUBJECTIVE
WELL-BEING IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADULTHOOD

(Accepted 26 September 2005)

ABSTRACT. Research on subjective well-being has focused mainly on positive

values and goals. This article studies the structure and content of life problems from
a theory of personal meaning as well as the relation of these problems to subjective
well-being. Data from the German Aging Survey, a representative sample of German
citizens (40–85 year; n=2844) were used. A content analysis of life problems was
carried out as expressed on a sentence completion instrument which elicits descrip-
tions of self and life. Although outweighed by positive sentence completions, a
substantial part of the sentence completions had a negative tone. Problems in life
could be reliably coded as cognitive, motivational, or affective problems on specific
and global levels. They were found in a large number of life domains, such as self,
health, social relations, and society at large. Specific and global problems in each of
the three components showed independent and differentiated contributions to sub-
jective well-being. These findings stress the relevance of studying life problems.

KEY WORDS: elderly, life problems, middle-age, subjective well-being

INTRODUCTION

In understanding how individuals may reach high levels of subjective

well-being researchers have mainly focused on values and goals
(Diener, 1984; Diener et al., 1999; Schmuck and Sheldon, 2001). For

The German Aging Survey was carried out at the Centre for Psycho-
gerontology at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
(Director: Prof. Dr. F. Dittmann-Kohli), and the Research Group on Aging
and the Life Course at the Free University of Berlin, Germany (Director:
Prof. Dr. M. Kohli). It was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Family
Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth. Data collection was accom-
plished by Infas-Sozialforschung, Bonn, Germany.
98 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

example, it has been argued from a lifespan perspective that indi-

viduals actively reconstruct their values and goals to maintain sub-
jective well-being in view of a more negative balance between losses
and gains with age (Baltes and Carstensen, 1996; Brandtstädter and
Rothermund, 2002). Relatively few studies have considered how
individual perceptions of problems in life may obstruct this process.
In this article, we argue that understanding human beings and their
efforts to maintain high levels of subjective well-being also requires
research on whatever blocks and frustrates this process.
We conceptualize problems in life from a theory on personal
meaning. In the first section we summarize research on personal
meaning and derive a theoretical taxonomy of problems which
individuals might encounter in their life. In the second section we
argue how such problems may be related to reduced well-being. In
our empirical research we use a representative sample of German
adults of 40 years and older (the German Aging Survey; Dittmann-
Kohli et al., 2001) to study the cognitions representing life problems
from an individual’s own perspective. We will also empirically study
how these life problems are related to subjective well-being.

Life Problems from a Perspective on Meaning Construction

Researchers have distinguished different components and dimensions
with regard to personal meaning. A first distinction is that between a
cognitive, motivational and affective component (Battista and
Almond, 1973; Baumeister, 1991; Dittmann-Kohli, 1995; Reker and
Wong, 1988). The cognitive component refers to a coherent and
comprehensive framework which individuals use to interpret their
personal experiences and evaluate them in a positive way. The
motivational component encompasses one’s anticipations on future
life, one’s goals, wishes and plans, as well as the perception of one’s
possibilities for realizing them. The affective component refers to
happiness and fulfilment and the avoidance of negative emotional
states. Together, these components are important in achieving a sense
of personal meaning in life.
O’Connor and Chamberlain (1996) found the three components
invariably represented in subjects’ accounts of their sources of
meaning. Van Selm and Dittmann-Kohli (1998) found evidence for
the existence of these components in accounts of meaninglessness.
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 99

Although it is widely agreed that the components are somehow

interrelated, the exact nature of these relations is disputed (Reker and
Wong, 1988; Klinger, 1998; Van Ranst and Marcoen, 2000). Con-
sidering their theoretically assumed different functions, it can be
argued that they each represent a set of different aspects of personal
meaning.
Besides the three component model Reker and Wong (1988) have
argued that ‘‘a proper understanding of personal meaning requires
both a bottom-up (elemental) view and a top–down (holistic) view of
life’’ (p. 221). In order to distinguish different levels of meaning, we
will make use of the concepts specific versus global meaning (Park
and Folkman, 1997; Westerhof et al., 2001). The specific level refers
to meanings attached to concrete situations, roles, persons or events.
The global level encompasses more basic beliefs, orientations and
trait-like emotional states. This distinction between global and spe-
cific levels mirrors the theoretical distinction between global and
domain-specific aspects of well-being (Campbell et al., 1976; Diener
et al., 1999). As in a bottom-up approach, specific levels of meaning
are often presented as the constituting agents of a global sense of
meaning in life (Reker and Wong, 1988; Park and Folkman, 1997).
On the other hand, in a top–down approach, global levels of meaning
may serve as broad, integrative structures from which individuals
construe the meaning of specific situations and events (Baumeister,
1991).
This formulation of the pursuit of meaning in life allows us to
conceptualise different life problems. They can be characterized as
belonging to the cognitive component, such as the uncomprehensi-
bility of experiences, difficulties in life, one’s own weaknesses, or re-
grets about the past; to the motivational component, such as fears,
negative future expectations, a lack of purpose in life, or the per-
ception of obstacles for realizing one’s goals; or to the affective
component such as the presence of negative emotions or the absence
of positive emotions. Within each component, problems may be on
the global level, such as uncomprehensibility of life in general, an
overall lack of purpose or a generalized negative emotional state.
Alternatively, they may be on the specific level, for example referring
to particular difficulties, fears or passing negative emotional states.
We therefore expect a 32-fold structure of life problems from a
perspective on personal meaning. With regard to the structure of life
100 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

problems we expect that this theoretical taxonomy is found in cog-

nitions about self and life. As there are few systematic studies on life
problems, it is difficult to add expectations about the qualitative
nature of problems within this taxonomy. Our study therefore ex-
plores the problems which are found in these cognitions using a
qualitative methodology.

Life Problems and Subjective Well-being

The literature on subjective well-being suggests that a variety of
aspects of one’s objective life circumstances are related to subjective
well-being. However, the subjective interpretation of the objective
circumstances is even more important in enhancing or maintaining
well-being (Diener et al., 1999). Since we study life problems as sub-
jective interpretations of personal and environmental factors and
aspects of past, present and future self and life, it can be expected that
they will be related to an impoverished subjective well-being. Per-
ceptions of life problems should therefore add to the explanation of
subjective well-being beyond one’s objective life circumstances. Fur-
thermore, problems on a global level should add to the explanation of
subjective well-being above the level of specific problems, because they
have an overarching integrating function and serve as a general ori-
entation to life. They are therefore considered more serious than
specific life problems and should reduce subjective well-being, even
when controlled for objective life circumstances and specific problems.
The picture might even be more complex, because subjective well-
being is a multi-dimensional rather than a uni-dimensional construct.
Diener et al. (1999) emphasize the need to study subjective well-being
as consisting of three components: life satisfaction as a cognitive
component and pleasant and unpleasant affect as emotional com-
ponents of well-being. These components have proven to be related,
but clearly separable dimensions. With regard to the three compo-
nents of challenges to meaning in life, we expect that cognitive
problems are most strongly related to lower levels of life satisfaction
and affective problems to high levels of unpleasant and low levels of
pleasant affect. Motivational problems will be somewhere in-between.
Deficits in goal realization may mildly increase negative feelings,
prohibit positive feelings and result in somewhat more negative
judgments about life as a whole.
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 101

Methodological Remarks
In this article we study life problems in a representative sample of
German adults of 40 years and older. The second half of life is an
excellent territory, given the fact that the balance between gains and
losses becomes more negative with age (Baltes and Carstensen, 1996).
Furthermore, elderly have to deal with ageist stereotypes and
behaviours (Westerhof and Barrett, 2005). Therefore, midlife and
beyond is a challenging period from the viewpoint of life problems
and their relation to well-being.
We use a semi-structured sentence completion instrument to elicit
descriptions of oneself and one’s life (the SELE-instrument, an
acronym of the German SElbst and LEben, i.e., self and life; Ditt-
mann-Kohli and Westerhof, 1997; Westerhof et al., 2001). This
allows respondents to express the various problems which they
encounter in their own words. We use a theory-driven approach to
classify the different problems which individuals express into the
theoretical taxonomy. A data-driven approach is used to derive the
content of the different life problems. Scores will be derived from
the sentence completion questionnaire which represent the three
components on specific and global levels of life problems. These
scores will be analysed in relation to subjective well-being in order to
answer the second research question. In this way the sentence
completion instrument is well-suited to qualitative as well as quan-
titative analyses of cognitions about self and life in large-scale survey
research.

METHOD

Sample
In the German Aging Survey independently living persons between
40 and 85 years were interviewed in 1996 (Dittmann-Kohli et al.,
2001). The sample consisted of randomly chosen individuals from
the population registers of 290 cities in the Federal Republic of
Germany. It was stratified by age group (40–54; 55–69; 70–85 years),
sex and residence in the former Federal Republic of Germany and
German Democratic Republic. Fifty percent of those contacted
(n=9613) were willing to participate (n=4838). The response rates
102 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

were 63%, 56% and 40% in the respective age groups. The final
sample contains an overrepresentation of healthy people in the oldest
age group (age 70–85). Respondents were additionally asked to fill
out a questionnaire with well-being scales which was collected later
by the interviewer. Slightly more than 4000 respondents (4034)
returned the questionnaire, a return rate of 83%. Respondents who
returned the questionnaire did not significantly differ from respon-
dents who did not.

Instruments
The SELE sentence completion questionnaire consists of 28 sentence
stems that elicit descriptions of self and life which are relevant to the
respondent (Dittmann-Kohli and Westerhof, 1997). There are about
equal numbers of positively, negatively, or neutrally worded sentence
stems. They prompt descriptions of self and life (e.g. ‘‘I am proud
that...’’, ‘‘My weaknesses are...’’, ‘‘When I think about myself...’’) and
future anticipations (e.g. ‘‘I intend to...’’, ‘‘I fear that...’’, ‘‘In the next
few years...’’). Subjects were asked to finish the sentence stems so as
to describe what they consider to be true and important about
themselves. The SELE was administered at the beginning of the
interview, to avoid interference with topics that were covered in the
interview.
A hierarchical coding scheme was developed for this study to
categorize the sentence completions, building on previous work
(Dittmann-Kohli, 1995; Van Selm and Dittmann-Kohli, 1998). The
first step categorizes answers about self and life as negative, neu-
tral, or positive. All negative answers are seen as problems in life.
The second step categorizes all problems in the three components:
cognitive, motivational, and affective. The third step categorizes
the components into specific and global levels. Besides these
structural aspects of life problems which were deductively derived
from theories on personal meaning, the fourth step contains a
number of inductively derived categories (see Table I). Interrater
reliability was good. For evaluative quality (negative, neutral,
positive) j was 0.91. For the three components, Cohen’s j was
0.74. For categories within each component j was 0.88. For the
content of the categories, j was 0.83. Previous research has shown
that the number of problems mentioned in the SELE is related to
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 103

TABLE I
Examples of meanings problems and percentage subjects that expressed them
(n=2844)

Meaning category % Example

Cognitive Component
Specific level
Negative Self 86.3 My weaknesses
are...impatience
Negative Interpersonal 25.6 I think that I... am
easily deceived
Negative World/Humanity 68.7 It annoys me... our
politicians
Negative Current Life 70.6 It’s difficult for
me... that I’m ill
Negative Past Life 35.0 When I look at my
past life, I regret...not
having children
Global level
Negative Self 10.7 When I think about
myself... I can’t
stand myself
Negative Current Life 12.8 In comparison to
others... my life is
worse
Negative Past Life 7.9 It’s difficult for
me... to think
about the past
Motivational Component
Specific level
Goal Realization Problems 10.6 It annoys me... that
I still haven’t got
a full-time job
Barriers to meaning 58.5 I would like to...do
everything, but I am
no longer physically
able
Negative Future 82.7 I fear that... I will get
a serious disease
Negative Existential 57.0 I fear that... death
Global level
Motivational Deficits 23.4 I intend to ... nothing
Goal Realization Problems 7.9 What’s been bothering
me recently
is... whether I can reach
all my goals
104 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

TABLE I
Continued

Meaning category % Example

Negative Future 26.1 I fear that ...I won’t be

happy
Affective Component
Specific level
Negative Affect 22.0 I have noticed that
I... feel lonely
Absence of Positive Affect 3.1 Compared to the
past... not happy
Physical Distress 19.3 My body... hurts
(lower back pain)
Global level
Negative Affect 25.6 I often feel ... miserable
Absence of Positive Affect 9.8 I feel really good... never
Physical Distress 22.5 I often feel... very tired

measures of meaning in life and depression (Van Selm and Ditt-

mann-Kohli, 1998).
The SELE-instrument was coded and analysed for a random
sample of 2844 respondents. On the level of the specific and global
problems in the three components six variables were computed for
each individual as the number of sentence completions falling within
a particular category. On the level of content of life problems, a
dichotomous variable was computed for each problem, indicating
whether an individual mentioned the category at least once across the
SELE-instrument or not.
Subjective well-being data were gathered with the Satisfaction
With Life Scale (SWLS, Pavot and Diener, 1993) and the Positive
And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS, Watson et al., 1988). All
scales showed good psychometric properties in the German Aging
Survey (Dittmann-Kohli et al., 2001).
Control variables included in the analyses refer to age, gender,
region of living (East- or West-Germany), income (net monthly
household income in 14 categories), educational level (highest edu-
cational attainment), marital status (married or not), and health (no,
slight and considerable hindrance due to health problems according
to the respondent).
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 105

RESULTS

Taxonomy of Life Problems

Our first research question concerned the structure and content of life
problems as expressed by individuals in the second half of life. We
expected that the theoretical structure of three components on two
levels is found in individual accounts of self and life. Furthermore, we
wanted to explore the content of life problems.
All sentence completions were coded as positive, neutral, or neg-
ative. On average respondents had 10.6 negative sentence comple-
tions out of 28 in total (SD=3.2). To assess whether the theoretical
structure of life problems could be found, these negative sentence
completions were coded as cognitive, motivational, and affective
problems and within each of these components on a specific or global
level. As the number of sentence stems eliciting different components
varies, one should be careful in comparing the means for the different
components. However, our objective was not to study the frequency
with which problems are mentioned, but whether they would fit the
taxonomy outlined in the introduction.
We found that people expressed life problems within the cognitive
(M=5.5, SD=2.3), motivational (M=4.0, SD=1.9) and affective
component (M=1.1, SD=1.0). Furthermore, we also found specific
(M= 8.9; SD=2.6) as well as global problems (M=1.8; SD=1.5).
Specific problems were found 12.5 times more often than global
problems in the cognitive component, almost 4 times more often in
the motivational component and about equally often in the affective
component. The finding that answers could be reliably coded in the
three components on specific and global levels and that substantial
numbers of sentence completions fall in all categories is a first
indication that the theoretical taxonomy can be recognized in the
cognitions of self and life of our respondents.
To answer the question on the content of life problems, the
sentence completions were further categorized into particular types of
specific and global problems within the components. Table I shows
the distribution of these problems. We will give a qualitative overview
of their content below.
The cognitive component contained both specific and global eval-
uations of self and life. Specific meanings in the cognitive component
106 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

were related to a wide range of themes: self, interpersonal concerns,

the world in general, as well as particular aspects of current and past
life. The category Specific Negative Self-Evaluations contained dif-
ferent forms of self-criticism: interpersonal behaviour (e.g., having
difficulties saying no), discipline (e.g., being impatient), personality
traits (e.g., stubbornness), and criticism of one’s own deeds or choices
in the past (e.g., having chosen the wrong occupation). In the Neg-
ative Interpersonal Domain three types of problems were most pre-
valent: being treated unfairly (e.g., being deceived), being left alone or
excluded, and missing contacts or persons. The category Negative
World encompassed problems which were directed to the macro-level
of society: German politics (e.g., the economic situation and mass-
unemployment), worries about the world (e.g., fear of war) as well as
behaviour of politicians and people in general (e.g., loss of morals,
egoism). The category Current Life contained concerns about phys-
ical health, occupation (e.g., unemployment, work stress), as well as
housing conditions and the living environment. The category Past
Life comprised negative life-events (e.g., death of a close person,
World War II) as well as regrets (e.g., about education attained). On
the global level, Negative Self-Evaluations could be characterized in
general as low self-esteem. Negative Life-Evaluations were further
divided into evaluations of current and past life.
Specific problems within the motivational component were related
to the realization of specific goals, barriers in the attainment of goals
as well as negative anticipations of specific events in the future and
existential problems. Goal Realization Problems were identified as
doubts whether a specific plan or goal could be realized (e.g., finding
a job) and as a lack of control over the realization of a goal (e.g., due
to socio-economic circumstances). The category Barriers comprised
particular obstacles towards realizing plans and goals: health barri-
ers, lack of time left to live, lack of time in everyday life, lack of
freedom, and lack of money. Negative Future Anticipations were
most often related to illness and disease and becoming dependent, but
also to financial problems, job loss or unexpected life-events. In the
category Existential Conditions we found answers regarding the
process of aging, being alone, death and dying as well as difficulties in
coping with existential conditions (e.g., ‘‘It’s difficult for me... to live
alone’’).
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 107

On the global level we found three categories within the motiva-

tional component: Motivational Deficits, Goal Realization Problems
and Negative Future Anticipations. Motivational Deficits indicated
that there was a lack of motivational stimuli in the subject’s life:
Subjects expressed a lack of plans or goals, feelings of uselessness or
boredom and in the most dramatic case a lack of the desire to live.
Global Goal Realization Problems referred to the totality of one’s
plans and goals and Global Negative Future referred to a negative
outlook on life and self in general.
Within the affective component emotions and affects were coded as
specific when they had state-like properties and as global when they
had trait-like properties in the descriptions of the subjects. Five cat-
egories of Negative Affect were found: agitation, depression, anxiety,
stress and loneliness. Absence of Positive Affect was expressed in
terms of not being happy, not feeling well, or being dissatisfied.
Physical Distress was reported frequently, especially feeling tired or
exhausted, feeling ill or suffering from physical ailments.

Relations to Subjective Well-being

The second research question concerned the relation of life problems
with subjective well-being. It was expected that both specific and
general problems additionally predict subjective well-being beyond
objective life circumstances and that the different components to
which problems belonged are related in different ways to measures of
subjective well-being.
In a three step multiple regression analysis on each of the three
well-being variables, we first entered a set of context variables (age,
gender, former East- or West-Germany, income, educational level,
marital status, and health restrictions). In a second step we entered
the composite scores for specific life problems in each of the three
components, and in a third step we entered a set of scores for global
life problems in each of the components (Table II).
For all three well-being variables, the added explained variance
for both the specific as well as the global life problems was highly
significant (p<0.001). In each analysis, entering life problems at the
global level resulted in a somewhat larger increase of explained
variance, even though they were entered in the equation after
problems at the specific level. The b weights of the variables for
108 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

TABLE II
Three-step regression analysis of subjective well-being on (1) life contexts, (2) specific
problems, and (3) global problems (n=2406)a

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

b b b

Life Satisfaction
Age 0.230*** 0.201*** 0.178***
Gender 0.095*** 0.095*** 0.088***
Living in GDR )0.127*** )0.089*** )0.084***
Income 0.158*** 0.154*** 0.121***
Education 0.031 0.038 0.024
Married 0.211*** 0.210*** 0.178***
Health impairment )0.203*** )0.140*** )0.086***
Cognitive specific )0.229*** )0.226***
Motivational specific )0.130*** )0.123***
Affective specific )0.091*** )0.056**
Cognitive global )0.168***
Motivational global )0.129***
Affective global )0.108***
R2 adj. 0.137 0.198 0.263
Positive Affects
Age )0.108*** )0.115*** )0.136***
Gender 0.053* 0.063** 0.060**
Living in GDR )0.041 )0.024 )0.020
Income 0.105*** 0.100*** 0.073***
Education 0.125*** 0.122*** 0.110***
Married 0.071** 0.065** 0.037
Health impairment )0.188*** )0.149*** )0.101***
Cognitive specific )0.057** )0.055**
Motivational specific )0.114*** )0.104***
Affective specific )0.090*** )0.058**
Cognitive global )0.107***
Motivational global )0.111***
Affective global )0.134***
R2 adj. 0.125 0.145 0.191
Negative Affects
Age )0.268*** )0.242*** )0.222***
Gender 0.125*** 0.118*** 0.119***
Living in GDR )0.042 )0.070** )0.072***
Income )0.050* )0.048* )0.024
Education )0.020 )0.022 )0.011
Married )0.040 )0.037 )0.013
Health impairment 0.130*** 0.076*** 0.035
Cognitive specific 0.151*** 0.149***
Motivational specific 0.098*** 0.085***
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 109

TABLE II
Continued

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

b b b

Affective specific 0.140*** 0.110***

Cognitive global 0.096***
Motivational global 0.077***
Affective global 0.133***
R2 adj. 0.083 0.124 0.160
a
All added explained variance significant at the p<0.001 level.
* p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001.

specific cognitive and motivational problems did not change much,

when the global level variables were entered. The effects of specific
affective problems appeared to be moderated somewhat by the
measures of problems at the global level. These findings support the
hypothesis that specific life problems add to the explanation of
well-being beyond life contexts and that problems on a global level
independently add to the explanation beyond life contexts and
specific problems.
In the final model, it is found that all six variables representing
the specific and global meanings within the three components had a
significant impact on all three subjective well-being variables.
Comparing the relation of the six variables with life satisfaction, we
found that specific and global cognitive problems are related
strongest to this dimension of well-being, followed by global and
specific motivational problems. Affective problems are related less
strong to life satisfaction. Global affective problems are related
strongest to positive affects, but specific affective problems are not
strongly related to positive affects. Cognitive and motivational
problems are equally related to positive affect. Global and specific
affective problems are among the three strongest predictors of neg-
ative affect (together with specific cognitive problems). Motivational
problems have the weakest relation with negative affect. In general
this pattern of findings supports our hypotheses concerning the
relation between the components and different dimensions of
well-being, but most clearly for the relation between the cognitive
component and life satisfaction.
110 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

DISCUSSION

Research on subjective well-being has focused mainly on processes of

goal realization as mediating life circumstances and individual levels
of well-being. Little is known about problems which individuals
might experience and which may be related to an impoverished level
of well-being. Our research questions concerned the structure and
content of life problems from a perspective of personal meaning as
well as their relation with subjective well-being.

Taxonomy of Life Problems

It was found that life problems represent a substantial part of the
cognitions of self and life of most individuals. The theoretical tax-
onomy which was outlined in the introduction could be found in our
empirical study. Moreover, the 32-fold structure is validated by the
analyses of subjective well-being. The components at the specific and
global level all showed a unique contribution to subjective well-being,
which supports the assumption that they function autonomously in
decreasing subjective well-being.
The number of problems which were expressed at the specific level
is much larger than those on a global level. This might be related to
the nature of the sentence stems. However, in two other studies based
on the German Aging Survey, we found a much greater proportion of
global meanings among positive than among negative sentence
completions (Hover, 2000; Westerhof et al., 2001). Obviously, indi-
viduals struggle to keep their global meanings positive. This is an
important finding, because positive meaning on a global level might
be accompanied by life problems on a general level. For example, we
found that although there are no age differences in life satisfaction,
individuals of different ages mentioned different types of life prob-
lems (Westerhof et al., 2003; Read et al., 2005).
With regard to the content of life problems, a large number of
concerns were found. Besides problems at the global level, a number
of problems in specific domains were expressed: self, physical func-
tioning, social relations, occupation, time, finances, housing, society,
and existential themes. Part of these domains is also found in research
on values and goals as well as on domain-specific evaluations of
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 111

subjective well-being. Yet, our findings suggest that the content of life
problems is different from the content of life values and goals (Ryff
and Essex, 1991; Westerhof et al., 2001). For example, the self was
often found as a source of specific problems, whereas global negative
self-evaluations were relatively sparse. Self-construal processes may
be typified by a strong urge towards obtaining and maintaining an
overall positive self-concept. However, we find that this self-
enhancement is combined with considerable criticism on specific as-
pects of the self. Another example concerns political conditions.
These played an especially important role in the specific negative
evaluations of current life, whereas another study showed that they
are almost absent in positive evaluations (Dittmann-Kohli et al.,
2001). It is important to realize that when this study was carried out,
Germany was in the middle of the process of unification between
East- and West-Germany. Consequences of unification appear to be
at the basis of many personal problems.

Subjective Well-being
The composite scores demonstrated by and large the expected rela-
tion to subjective well-being. This further validates our theoretical
assumptions about the structure of life problems. Problems at the
specific and global level both contribute to the explanation of well-
being beyond life contexts. The stronger relation of the latter may be
caused by the overlap in content which exists between global prob-
lems and well-being questionnaires which ask for global judgments.
Methodological confounding is minimized, because the measure-
ments took place at different times. Furthermore, the SELE asks for
spontaneous statements: Negative feelings, for example, may be
present as measured with the PANAS, but they need not to be of a
high concern and therefore they don’t need to be mentioned in the
descriptions of self and life. Hence, the finding that negative meaning
at the global level demonstrates stronger correlations with well-being
variables than problems at the specific level may be attributed to their
presumed greater psychological significance.
The three components were found to be related to life satisfaction,
positive, and negative affect in different ways. These findings do not
only show the validity of the composite scores of life problems. They
also suggest that affect is differentially related to the life problems
112 GERBEN J. WESTERHOF ET AL.

within the cognitive and motivational component. Problems with

regard to the cognitive component primarily increase negative affect,
whereas those with regard to the motivational component primarily
decrease positive affect. A cross-sectional design cannot be conclusive
on this point, yet this dynamic would make sense theoretically. First,
it fits evidence that pleasant and unpleasant affect appear to be
related but clearly separable factors (Watson et al., 1988; Lucas
et al., 1996), and empirical findings that purpose-in-life is more
strongly related to positive than negative affect (Ryff, 1989; Zika and
Chamberlain, 1992). Second, this interpretation corresponds to the
functions of the motivational and cognitive components that are
described in theories on personal meaning. The motivational com-
ponent mobilizes a person and brings along interest and enthusiasm.
Furthermore actions taken in the process of realizing goals are
accompanied by pride and excitement. Motivational deficits therefore
should primarily decrease the experience of positive affect. Problems
within the cognitive component have a great significance in the
appraisal and understanding of oneself and one’s life. They are often
related to an underlying set of painful experiences. These negative
accounts might have an affective impact on negative emotions, such
as distress, nervousness, shame, or guilt. Given the fact that the
tendency to interpret reality positively has been well documented, we
propose that the cognitive component has a special function in
neutralizing or avoiding negative affect within the broader framework
of personal meaning.

From the Negative to the Positive

Research on personal meaning has often pointed out that people are
able to find meaning even in apparently meaningless circumstances.
Several cognitive mechanisms which serve to neutralize life problems
are described in the psychological literature, such as defence mech-
anisms, coping, cognitive restructuring, lowering aspirations and
downward comparison. At least two strategies emerge from our
research. Our findings point to a cognitive strategy which can be
described as shifting the level of meaning (Baumeister, 1991; West-
erhof et al., 2001). By staying at lower-level meanings, a person can
avoid having to draw negative conclusions about life as a whole. For
example, soldiers engaged in battle stick to basic levels of meaning
 LIFE PROBLEMS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING 113

and concentrate on technical details and instrumental questions in

order to avoid higher level meanings concerning the consequences of
their actions, such as killing other men (who leave families behind)
and causing thousands of citizens to abandon their homes. On the
other hand, positive judgments of one’s life in general might
neutralize the impact of specific negative life events and conditions,
since they have the power to transcend them. For example, Ditt-
mann-Kohli (1995) describes how elderly often state that they are
‘‘satisfied’’ with their current life, despite unfavourable conditions.
Another strategy might be called converting problems into goals.
Negative evaluations of certain conditions are often found in com-
bination with personal goals about these conditions. Subjects often
expressed plans to change an undesirable situation (e.g. ‘‘I would like
to... find a better place to live’’) or self-definition (e.g. ‘‘I intend to...
become more tolerant’’). The problem is transformed into positive
meaning by the intention to change the situation. Life problems
therefore play an important role in motivation, as they provide the
individual with a framework for setting goals and finding purpose.
The focus on life problems may therefore in the end be important
to understand how individuals deal with difficulties and are able to
restore their sense of well-being. Furthermore, our study shows that
perceptions of life problems are related to subjective well-being in a
discernable pattern. Dealing with these problems in an adequate way
helps individuals to adapt to the changing realities over the life-course
and maintain their well-being.

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Center for Psychogerontology Gerben J. Westerhof

Radboud University Nijmegen
P.O. Box 9104
6500HE
Nijmegen
The Netherlands
E-mail: g.westerhof@psych.ru.nl