[Achievement concepts, mental status and psychological stability of the elderly]

Considerations within a broader theoretical framework are presented that relate psychic well-being and psychic stability of both older and younger persons to their self-concepts of achievement and ability: The better the "psychic well-being" and the higher the degree of "psychic stability", the more "favourable" or "positive", i.e. with more socially desired characteristics, are the various self-concepts of achievement and ability of both younger and older individuals. 87 psychiatric patients with a diagnosis of "depression", considered a population with lower levels in respect of "psychic stability" and "psychic well-being", had been compared to a sample group without psychiatric problems. Initial evaluations of available empirical findings, i.e. the data for three differentiated self-concepts of achievement and ability and a self-concept of sensitivity and general emotional state, obtained from a total of 174 subjects (91 aged 50-81, 83 aged 23-49), have failed to falsify our hypotheses but have, rather, substantiated them. The 87 psychiatric subjects from various age groups had significantly less "favourable" self-concepts of achievement and ability and a significantly less "positive" self-concept of sensitivity and general emotional state than the subjects in the parallel sample.