[Future perspectives, factors in the mental health of aged persons]

During individual interviews, 708 people between the ages of 65 and 90 expressed a wide variety of personal goals and aspirations through sentences they were asked to complete. The distribution of answers in temporal categories provides an index of the broadening of future perspectives (PF). The values of that index were put in relation with subjective assessments that can be looked upon as clues to mental health. Results confirm the hypothesis of a positive relation between PF and perception of health (0.27), meaning of life (0.29), living satisfaction (0.30) and perception of having personal control (0.18). However, PF does not appear to be connected with the person's attitude toward death. These results seem to indicate that PF represents a factor of mental health and "healthy aging". Consequently, they justify the relevance of developing interventions that aim to strengthen this "personal resource".