[Personal meaning in the elderly: sources of meaning, welfare, coping and attitude to death]

There are many different ways to experience one's life and aging as meaningful. The present study looks for different patterns of personal meaning in the elderly. Respondents were 376 older adults (221 women and 155 men), their mean age was 65.9 years. They completed several standardized questionnaires including measures of sources of meaning (SOMP), ultimate meaning (PMI), life satisfaction (LSIA), depression (SRDS), anxiety (STAI), coping orientations (COAP), and death attitudes (DAP-R). A cluster analysis performed on the sources of meaning revealed three groups each with a different pattern of meaning. The smallest group I (n=23) found most meaning in values that indicate self-preoccupation. Self-transcendent sources of meaning were on the top of the hierarchy of values of the second group II (n=123). The third and largest group III (n=230) valued self-transcendent sources of meaning as well as sources of meaning that indicate self-realisation. The three clusters also differed with regard to ultimate meaning (group I having the highest and group III the lowest score), well-being (group I reporting more depressive feelings and more feelings of anxiety than group II and group III), coping with aging (group III reporting most instrumental coping), and death attitude (group II having the most positive attitude).