For a majority of persons, physical aging and health problems represent a serious threat to finding positive meaning in old age. Illnesses may imply a change in life-style, in abilities and potentials, and in the satisfaction of needs. As a consequence of such changes and of general developmental processes, personal meaning systems are being restructured in order to compensate for losses of important meaning sources in life. Reappraisal of personal resources, abilities and motivations is also taking place. During periods when old meanings are no longer viable and the new meanings are not yet found and put together in a coherent way, the reorganisation process may cause states of meaninglessness and disorientation.
Most individuals succeed in developing a new balance in personal meanings.
Building on life-long experiences, older adults are often able to arrive at good solutions for conceptualizing satisfying lives and selves. Some individuals, however, may settle with impoverished meanings or negative emotional states, and may minimize their active functioning. The context of theoretical work and empirical studies in this research program is found in psychological study of the self-concept and social cognition, and in research on personal goals and personality development in a life span context. Because meaning systems are considered as being composed of both individual and cultural cognitions, cross-cultural perspectives are also important. Insofar as the construction of meaning systems is patterned by the individual life course and its societal context, sociological perspectives and questions of socio-structural differences are being studied.