Perceived Quality of Life, Well-Being, and Curiosity of Older Adults

Abstract

The study examined the relationships between the perceived quality of life (QoL), well-being (WB), and curiosity of older adults. An occasional sample of 199 subjects answered the CASP12 questionnaire (measuring QoL), the 5-DCR scale (measuring curiosity), and a brief demographic questionnaire (referring to gender, age, marital status, and continued interest in the profession). The qualitative layer consisted of twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with curious older adults. Findings of the quantitative layer pointed to a substantial association between curiosity and QoL, underscoring the direct and indirect (through curiosity) effects of the demographic factors on QoL, particularly curiosity’s mediating effect on the relationships between continued interest in the profession and QoL. The impact of curiosity, love of learning, and personal attributes on WB were highlighted in the qualitative layer. Implications for cultivating a growth mindset focusing on curiosity across the lifespan and publicizing their role in fostering adaptive aging were discussed.

1. Introduction

The current increase in life expectancy has promoted research interest in improving older adults’ quality of life and well-being [1]. The present study addresses the relationship between curiosity and those two constructs.

1.1. Quality of Life (QoL)

Measuring older adults’ QoL has been theorized based on the need satisfaction model to consist of four dimensions: having control over their lives, autonomy to do what they choose, pleasure in life, and feelings of self-realization ([2] (pp. 186–194), [3]). The former two dimensions (control and autonomy) constitute prerequisites for being able to participate in society, whereas the latter two (pleasure and self-realization) capture the extent to which those feelings of freedom are fulfilled [4] (pp. 61–77). Denoting that subjective well-being is an essential indicator of QoL, ref. [5] (pp. 245–277) points to the close alignment between the pleasure dimension of QoL and theories of subjective well-being.

Indeed, QoL and well-being (WB) are closely related concepts. However, QoL has roots in both medical and psychosocial perspectives [6] (pp. 50–56), whereas WB has stronger connections to psychological and happiness research [7] (pp. 765–775).

1.2. Well-Being (WB)

WB is a multidimensional construct that refers to the individual’s overall flourishing state. It encompasses various aspects of an individual’s overall life satisfaction, mental health, and personal growth. The WB construct comprises the following five dimensions suggested by [8,9] (pp. 3–9), the founder of positive psychology, which are also known as the PERMA framework [10] (pp. 333–335):

• Positive emotion (P): Experiencing pleasant emotions such as joy, contentment, and gratitude.
• Engagement (E): Being fully absorbed and invested in an activity or pursuit.
• Relationships (R): Developing and maintaining meaningful connections with others.
• Meaning (M): Experiencing a sense of purpose and significance in life derived from one’s activities and beliefs.
• Accomplishment (A): Pursuing and achieving one’s goals, mastery, and personal growth.

1.3. Factors Affecting QoL and WB

Several studies have focused on factors affecting older adults’ perceived QoL and WB.

Thematically synthesizing 48 qualitative studies of older adults living at home in 11 Western countries, van Leeuwen and colleagues [11] identified nine domains underlying their perceptions of QoL and WB. Included are perceived health (feeling healthy and not limited by a physical condition), autonomy (being able to manage on their own, not feeling like a burden), role and activity (having the freedom to organize their time, staying occupied with activities that bring a sense of value, joy, and involvement), relationships (having close social relationships, which make them feel supported, enabling them to mean something for others), attitude and adaptation (optimistically looking on the bright side of life), emotional comfort (being happy, not feeling lonely or troubled by past experiences), spirituality (feeling attached and experiencing faith and self-development), home and neighborhood (feeling secure and living in a pleasant and accessible neighborhood), and financial security (not feeling restricted by their financial situation). The authors conclude that the concept of QoL constitutes a dynamic web of highly intertwined domains, so changes in one domain are likely to affect other domains.

A recently published qualitative study about the aging of hippies living on a large farm in Tennessee [12] points to five ethics, which the author claims make their aging unique, exhibiting a high level of older adults’ QoL (also referred to as successful or adaptive aging) ([13] (pp. 433–440), [14] (pp. 106–116)). These consist of the famous hippies’ triads (sex, drugs (dope), and rock ’n’ roll), which at their current age imply expressing love and care toward everyone, including the self, as they are and helping the needy (through the charity fund they established back in the 1960s); cannabis consumption to heal the body and mind; and the centrality of music in their lives. The fourth set of ethics relates to the significant role of the community in their life, which provides a sense of belonging (diminishing a significant concern among older adults—the feeling of loneliness [15] (pp. 453–463), reciprocity, necessity, and finding meaning in life (especially fulfillment due to effects on current American values and ways of life). The fifth set of ethics relates to opposition to the establishment for trampling on individual rights, abandoning democracy, harming the quality of the environment, and endangering sustainability. The hippies’ eclectic ideology, comprising the five ethics, affects the QoL and WB of its aging members, particularly the community’s predominant role in promoting their feeling of being supported in life and beyond and their contentment in shared accomplishments. It constitutes a unique pattern of the domains identified in large-scale QoL studies of older adults, such as the van Leeuwen et al. [11] study mentioned above. None of those studies, however, specifically addressed the motivational factors, such as curiosity and the love of learning (LoL), that underlie older individuals’ quality of life. The present study emphasizes those features.

1.4. Curiosity

Curiosity, a quality related to an intrinsic desire to seek out new knowledge and experience [16] (pp. 180–191), is a complex concept that requires further understanding. Its nature, dimensionality, underlying mechanisms, correlates, behavioral, emotional, and developmental aspects have been researched but still need to be better understood [17]. This need for further understanding underscores the importance of the current study in investigating the role of curiosity in the QoL and WB of older adults.

Two competing theoretical accounts (drive theory and optimal level of arousal) have been advanced to explain the curiosity experience [17]. According to the former, curiosity is induced by stimuli characterized by novelty, complexity, and conflict [18], which causes an uncomfortable state of uncertainty until it is reduced or eliminated by exerting much effort to close the knowledge gap [19] (pp. 75–98). According to the latter, an optimal level of arousal is achieved by interacting with stimuli that induce situational interest [20] (pp. 221–271). Such theories are associated with WB ([21] (pp. (236–248) and [22] (pp. 291–305)) and supported by findings from brain research [23] (pp. 486–496).

Integrating the various theoretical accounts, Litman [17] describes curiosity in terms of two types (D and I). The former is motivated to reduce the knowledge gap, while the latter is motivated to induce situational interest. Thus, the latter reflects a more relaxed attitude toward exploring new information and having fun during the process.

Interest in curiosity in various fields has been fast-spreading, and it is acknowledged as a fundamental competency for successful functioning in the 21st century. Curiosity has spread to the workplace, spurring research regarding its impact on workplace culture [24] (pp. 281–315). Likewise, educational researchers and policymakers have renewed their interest in curiosity, especially since it was indicated as a primary goal in the OECD 2030 education program [25].

1.4.1. The Impact of Curiosity on QoL and WB

Research on older adults’ QoL and WB has focused primarily on executive cognitive functioning [26] (pp. 299–303), social relations, and physical health [15] (pp. 453–463). Only a few studies focused on the effect of curiosity on QoL and WB ([27] (pp. 329–347), [28] (pp. 341–351), and [14] (pp. 106–116). Sakaki and her colleagues [14] (pp. 106–116) underscored two brain systems, the dopaminergic reward and noradrenergic systems, pointing to the age-related changes they undergo, which promote adaptive aging. However, they further argued (based on the socio-selectivity theory (SST)) [29] (pp. 165–181) that at least some of the age-related effects on curiosity are driven by motivational shifts with age.

Additional aspects of curiosity’s impact on QoL and WB were also addressed. For instance, Balgiu [30] (pp. 3–14) examined the mediating role of the big five personality traits on curiosity and concluded that high-curiosity individuals tend to have well-developed WB because they are extroverted, perseverant, and emotionally stable. Kashdan and Steger [31] (pp. 159–173) examined curiosity as a mechanism for achieving sustainable WB and meaning in life, concluding that their findings supported such a mechanism. The relationships between curiosity and WB were also studied among adolescents [32] (pp. 810–815). The authors examined the differences between adolescents with high, average, and low trait curiosity on several WB and distress measures. They found that adolescents high in trait curiosity compared with those with low and average curiosity had higher levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, a greater sense of purpose in life, and hope.

1.4.2. Theoretical Support for the Relationship Between Curiosity and WB

According to the self-determination theory, curiosity is considered a core internal motivational mechanism, fulfilling one of the three innate psychological needs (along with autonomy and relatedness) that must be satisfied for individuals to experience psychological growth and WB [33] (pp. 68–78). Moreover, curiosity has been marked for its capacity to foster a “flow” experience, which, according to Csikszentmihalyi’s [34] conceptualization, is a state of optimal experience characterized by deep engagement and absorption. Research by Kashdan and colleagues ([22] (pp. 291–305), [31] (pp. 159–173), and [35] (pp. 199–214)) has indicated that higher curiosity levels are associated with greater life satisfaction, positive emotion (evoked by the LoL and discovery), and psychological sensitivity. Likewise, Seligman includes curiosity as one of the 24-character strengths in his values in action (VIA) classification, considering curiosity essential for personal growth, engagement, and experiencing meaning in life and accomplishment [36].

In general, studies have demonstrated that curiosity in old age is linked to maintaining the health of the aging central nervous system [37] (pp. 449–453), behavior proactivity [38] (pp. 135–140), and perceptions, such as future time and perceived importance of curiosity [39] (pp. 1107–1113).

1.5. The Multidimensionality of the Curiosity Construct

Most studies dealing with the curiosity of older adults regard the curiosity construct as unidimensional. The current study treats curiosity as a multidimensional construct, following the conceptualization of Kashdan and colleagues ([40] (pp. 130–149) and [41] (pp. 689–714)). The included dimensions are epistemic curiosity (interest and desire to explore the world and a sense of deprivation in the absence of relevant information (conceptualized by Litman [17], as the I (interest) and D (deprivation) dimensions)) and social curiosity (SC), which Kashdan et al. [41] (pp. 689–704) divide into general-overt SC, referring to interest in learning with and about people, and covert SC, referring to gossiping and prying. Two other SC components often mentioned are empathy [42] (pp. 225–234) and intrapersonal curiosity [17]. The other two curiosity dimensions are thrill-seeking (TS), which refers to the willingness to take risks to acquire new experiences, and stress tolerance (ST), which refers to coping well in situations of stress and uncertainty.

1.6. The Research Questions

Three research questions were addressed in the current study: (a) What are the relationships between dimensions of curiosity and QoL? (b) What are the effects of demographic variables on curiosity and QoL among older adults (aged 75 and above)? (c) How do curious older adults express their curiosity, LoL, QoL, and WB in their own words?

2. Research Design and Methods

To answer the research questions, the study comprises two layers—quantitative and qualitative. The former used questionnaire data and comprises two parts; the first explores the psychometric structure of the measures, and the second examines the association between QoL and the six curiosity dimensions, as well as the direct and indirect effects of demographic factors (gender, age, marital status, and continued interest in the professional field) on the perceived QoL of the participants. Two formal hypotheses were formulated for this part: H1, curiosity positively predicts QoL in older adults, and H2, curiosity mediates the relationship between continued professional interest and QoL.

The qualitative layer uses interview data with curious old and oldest-old participants, the most renowned experts in their fields, to portray patterns of curiosity-related behaviors, feelings of the experienced LoL, and their relationships with dimensions of QoL and WB, as expressed in the interviews. Integration of the findings from the two layers is expected to deepen the understanding of the relationship between curiosity, QoL, and WB in older age.

2.1. Sample

The (convenience) sample consisted of 199 older adults (age 75 and above), 77 males (38.7%), and 122 females (61.3%) who filled out the research questionnaires, constituting the sample for the quantitative layer1. About 10% of the sample (20 subjects) who expressed their consent to be interviewed constitute the sample for the qualitative layer. To recruit the subjects, the researchers invited familiar people and utilized accessible distribution lists. Then, using the snowball method, the recruited subjects were asked to suggest to their acquaintances, aged 75 and above, that they answer the questionnaire.

Profession-wise, the composition of the sample was heterogeneous. About 40% of the participants were employed before retirement in the K-12 education system (22.1%) or as academic staff members in higher education (18.1%). Other participants were in the helping professions (14.6%); were in the economy, finance, and management professions (8.0%); were in the engineering profession (7.5%); held secretarial and clerical jobs (7.5%); were experts in various art fields (6.0%); held maintenance jobs (4.5%); or were members of other professions (with low frequency each) (11.6%). All participants gave their consent to fill out the questionnaire.

The sample composition for the qualitative layer was also heterogeneous profession-wise (six scientists, five art-related experts, three culinary and wine experts, three experts in the helping professions, two engineers, and an architect). All interviewees gave their consent to be interviewed.

The research received the approval of the local Institutional Ethics Committee.

2.2. Research Tools

2.2.1. The Research Questionnaire

Two widely used questionnaires to measure QoL and curiosity were employed, in addition to a short demographic questionnaire. The research questionnaire was available in two formats (online and paper and pencil); the subjects could choose the one that suited them.

The CASP-12 Questionnaire Measured QoL

This questionnaire is a shortened version of the CASP-19 Questionnaire (CASP is an abbreviation of Control, Autonomy, Self-realization, and Pleasure) [2] (pp. 186–194). CASP-12, which was suggested by Wiggins et al. [4] (pp. 61–77), comprises 12 items taping the four domains: control, the feeling of being in control of their life (items 1–3); autonomy, feeling they can do whatever they want (items 4–6); pleasure, enjoying living a meaningful life (items 7–9); and self-realization, feeling energetic and having positive expectations (items 10–12). The questionnaire’s items are measured on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = never, 2 = seldom, 3 = sometimes, and 4 = often (or always)). Four items (1, 2, 3, and 6) are phrased in the opposite direction (indicating low QoL) and require reversed scoring. The CASP-12 suggested scoring keys consist of either three scales, control–autonomy (comprising six items (1–6)), pleasure, and self-realization, comprising three items each [2] (pp. 186–194), or four scales comprising three items each [3]. Analyses based on a large dataset of CASP-12 from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE wave 7) indicate that CASP-12 is a scalar invariant across age (old and oldest-old) and can either be used for individual factors (control, autonomy, pleasure, and self-realization) or as an overall score [3].

The 5-DCR Questionnaire Measured Curiosity [41] (pp. 689–704)

This questionnaire measures five dimensions: joyous exploration (JE) (the pleasurable experience of finding the world fascinating), deprivation sensitivity (DS) (the anxiety and discomfort experienced until resolving the information gaps), stress tolerance (ST) (the dispositional tendency to tolerate the stress and uncertainty that arise when confronting the new), social curiosity (SC) (consisting of two sub-scales, general-overt SC (an interest in other people’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings) and covert SC (discovering details regarding other people by indirect, surreptitious, and secretive ways)), and thrill seeking (TS) (the willingness to accept various kinds of risks to acquire new experiences). The questionnaire comprises 24 items (four items per scale) measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = does not describe me at all, 2 = barely describes me, 3 = seldom describes me, 4 = somewhat describes me, 5 = generally describes me, 6 = mostly describes me, and 7 = completely describes me).

Demographic Information

In the first part of the research questionnaire, the participants were asked to indicate their gender, marital status, birth year, profession, current occupations, areas of interest, and first language.

2.3. Interviews

Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2023 with older adults (12 aged 75–84 (considered old) and 8 aged 85–94 (considered oldest-old)) who expressed their consent to be interviewed. Most interviewees are curious minds known for their contributions to the fields of art, science, medicine, architecture, culinary expertise, and more. Most of them are still active in their professional areas; others either fully or partially shifted their interest to areas that always appealed to them, but they previously lacked the leisure to devote to them. However, all interviewees attested to currently being joyously immersed in learning.

The interview taped the following contents: the interviewees’ professions, their current occupations and interests, their perceptions of curiosity, their answers to questions regarding the five curiosity dimensions, the development of their curiosity (in the dimension(s) they mentioned as describing them), and their LoL. In the last part of the interview, the interviewees were asked to provide some tips for cultivating curiosity and the LoL in schools (optional). As semi-structured interviews, although following a guiding protocol, they enabled the interviewers significant flexibility when it seemed appropriate to use probes and unplanned questions for clarification, exploration, and deepening their understanding of the interviewees; to control the questions’ order; and to judge the interviewee’s non-verbal behavior [43]. (The interview protocol is presented as Exhibit S1.)

2.4. Analyses

2.4.1. The Quantitative Layer

Validating the Internal Structure of the Measured Constructs

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the measurement model of each construct (CASP-12 and 5-DCR), and scale reliabilities were computed (using Cronbach Alpha coefficients of internal consistency).

Multiple Regression Analyses Were Conducted to Account for the QoL Overall Score by the Six Curiosity Scales (JE, DS, ST, SC (Overt and Covert), and TS)

Concerning the effects of the demographic variables, a path analysis was performed to gauge the direct and indirect (through curiosity) effects of those variables (gender, age, marital status (married/nonmarried), and continued professional interest (no/yes)) on curiosity and QoL and the effect of curiosity on QoL.

2.4.2. The Qualitative Layer

The content analysis (CA) method [44] was employed for analyzing the interview data. Specifically, the directed approach to CA [45] (pp. 1277–1288) was adopted.

Conducting the interviews: Pairs of research team members (all experienced interviewers) conducted the interviews via Zoom. All interviews were recorded (with the participants’ prior consent). The length of each interview is presented in Table S1.

Organizing the interview data: The videotapes of the interviews were uploaded to a web-based annotation tool [46] and viewed by the research team members. They annotated the interviews, commenting on their colleagues’ annotations when relevant. Every interview with the embedded discussions was saved in a separate file for further deliberations.

Coding the interview data: The coding process consisted of two stages. First, the research group developed a coding scheme, which integrated initial categories (based on the topics addressed in the interview) with emergent ones from the actual interviews. Following this stage, the team convened a Zoom meeting to discuss the new emergent categories, resolve problems encountered and insights gained during the process, revising the coding scheme accordingly. A master table for coding the interview data was then prepared, containing the final categories specified in the coding scheme. In the next stage, every team member coded accordingly three to four interviews, in which they took part as a co-interviewer. The specific information from each interview was filled in a copy of the master table, and relevant quotes were referenced in the table and pasted at the bottom. During this stage, questions and problems were discussed with the team via e-mail before finalizing the process. (The final data structure for the qualitative layer appears in Table S4.)

3. Results

3.1. The Quantitative Layer

This section comprises two parts. The first addresses the psychometric properties of QoL and curiosity (construct validity and reliability), presenting the measurement model of each (as yielded by SEM) and their reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s Alphas). The second part presents results at the scale-score level (using multiple regressions) to account for the variance in the overall QoL score by the six curiosity scales (H1) and a path analysis of direct and indirect (through curiosity) effects on the QoL of the demographic variables (H2).

3.1.1. The Psychometric Properties of the QoL and Curiosity Measures Are Presented in Figures S2 and S3

Each measure’s section contains the results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a diagram of the measurement model (Figures S2 and S3, respectively). The results indicate a satisfactory fit of the models to the data.

3.1.2. Relationships Between QoL, Curiosity, and the Demographic Variables

Multiple Regression Analysis Was Performed to Account for the Perceived QoL by the Six Curiosity Scales (JE, DS, SC-Overt, SC-Covert, ST, and TS)

The analysis yielded a significant (p < 0.001) multiple correlation of 0.38 (considered of a substantial effect size [47], indicating that 14% of the variance in the CASP-12 score (R² = 0.14, R²_adj. = 0.12) is accounted for by the six curiosity scales. The curiosity variables with the significant weights were stress (or uncertainty) tolerance (ST) (Beta = 0.20, p = 0.0) and joyous exploration (JE) (Beta = 0.25, p = 0.015). The results of the multiple regression analysis are presented in Table S3.

Path Analysis Was Performed to Gauge the Direct and Indirect (Through Curiosity) Effects of the Demographic Variables (Gender, Age, Marital Status, and Continued Interest) on QoL

The path diagram is presented in Figure S1. The five variables significantly account for 14% of the variance in QoL (R² = 0.14, R²_adj. = 0.12). As seen in the figure, curiosity significantly affects QoL (Beta = 0.34, p < 0.001). Age and marital status (married: no/yes) directly affect QoL, as judged by their significant Beta weights (0.17, p = 0.014 and 0.16, p = 0.026, respectively), while their Beta weights on curiosity are insignificant. However, continued interest in the profession (no/yes) has an insignificant direct effect on QoL but a significant indirect effect through its significant weight on curiosity (Beta = 0.25, p < 0.001), implying that curiosity mediates the effect of continued professional interest on the QoL. Gender has no significant effects on QoL (neither direct nor indirect, as judged by its insignificant Beta weights).

3.2. The Qualitative Layer

This section comprises three parts corresponding to the three themes that emerged through the qualitative data analysis of the 20 interviews. The first depicts behaviors motivated by curiosity and the feelings they evoke. The second underscores three aspects of WB (a. prerequisites (control, autonomy, and the decision to participate in society despite ageism); b. positive affect, pleasure, and LoL; and c. self-realization, meaning, and accomplishment). The third part depicts personal attributes that enhance curiosity and perceived WB of older adults. (To comply with space restrictions, relevant interview citations appear in Table S5 and are numbered in the text according to citation number (CN [as appearing in the second column of the table]).)

3.2.1. Curiosity-Driven Behaviors

Most participants admit to curiosity, attesting to their multiple (multidisciplinary 3) interests and expressing pleasure, amazement, excitement, overpowering, love, healing, and more. Some even state that curiosity has accompanied them since their childhood, indicating the significant role it plays in their lives 1. They cannot imagine life without curiosity 2.

Concerning epistemic curiosity, they mention obsessive reading 7,8, engagement in continuous learning 4,6,10, and serious research efforts fueled by a constantly “itching” exploration drive 7,9,12. They point to deprivation sensitivity 5,13 and emphasize the wonder as they observe the wonderful world 11,34.

Regarding social curiosity, the artists point to gaining inspiration from observing people 14,15. Others benefit from learning from people 17 and enjoy learning about people 18. Emphatic curiosity is expressed not only by those in the helping professions 19,20 but also by other professionals 21,22. Several interviewees emphasize their efforts to contribute to society in their respective fields 24,25, apparently to leave a mark. As to intra-personal curiosity, the introspections expressed by several participants highlight the effects of their journey into their souls 26,27,28, the interactions between themselves and the materials they work with 26, their attempts to understand themselves 26, what excites them 27, and how observing nature teaches them about themselves 28.

3.2.2. The Three Aspects of WB

While the larger part of the participants continued (although with varying degrees of intensity) to maintain interest in their professional fields, several participants pursued new areas of interest after retirement, mainly in fields close to their hearts, which they lacked the leisure in the past to deeply engage with them (such as visual arts, music, literature, physics, and sightseeing). Several of them started formally learning some of those fields 29, and others learn informally 30, attesting to the profound pleasure the learning engagement instills in their life (using metaphors such as “a rudder, without which I feel like a boat in the ocean,” or ”The pepper of my life,” and expressions such as “it is stunning,” “you are addicted,” and “it is fascinating”).

However, LoL is also expressed by those who continue in their old age in the same profession 30,31,32,34,35,36,37. To convey their enthusiasm in the face of success, they use expressions such as, “It is fun,” “I enjoy it,” “It is amazing,” “It is a really deep pleasure,” “My heart is pounding with excitement,” “It makes me feel uplifted.”

Self-realization constitutes a prevalent category of QoL. Quite a few participants showed awareness of mastering their respective domains and specified the feelings accompanying their self-realization. For instance, a well-known dancer and choreographer feels that “dancing has a passion for [her]” 35; a reputable winemaker feels he has prepared himself well for the profession, from which he has “enormous satisfaction” 36; and a renowned painter expresses fulfillment with his accomplishments 37.

3.2.3. Attributes Enhancing Curiosity and Perceived WB of Older Adults

Several personal attributes were identified in the interviews that contributed to enhancing the participants’ perceived QoL and WB. These included the following:

Control and autonomy: Interviewees express joy from feeling free to engage only in topics that interest them and do things at the pace they choose 38,39.

Agency: Participants’ agency is revealed in self-initiated activities they have performed since their retirement, which include art consumption 41,42, blog writing 43, lecturing on old age at a museum 44, commemorating artists and writers 45, and establishing a high-tech company for medical devices 46 and a pharmaceutical company 47.

Self-efficacy: Participants exhibit self-confidence in their professional performance 48.

Reflectiveness: Participants constantly examine their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding objects of interest, considering their impact on themselves and others 49,50.

Resilience: Participants describe their situation and frame it as a sense of control and determination to achieve their goals. Tending to “self-correct,” when they fall, they try again 51.

Grit: Participants exhibit high consciousness and hard work 52.

Self-challenging: Participants admit to deliberately operating outside their comfort zone, tackling significant and unfamiliar challenges 53.

Framework breaking: Participants admit to being non-conformists. They highly desire autonomy and control and prefer to make their own choices and decisions driven by a need for individuality. They practice independent thinking, are creative and self-confident, and challenge authority 55,56.

Daring: Participants admit they take risks, venture into uncomfortable areas, and seize new opportunities despite the challenges they might face. They exhibit resourcefulness, curiosity, and perseverance 57,58.

Tolerance of uncertainty: Participants embrace uncertainty, enjoy being surprised, and perceive uncertainty as crucial for professional success 59,60,61.

4. Discussion and Implications

4.1. Integrative Summary

The current study examined older adults’ perceived QoL and WB and their relationships to curiosity and LoL, underscoring personal factors that enhance adaptive aging. As mentioned in the Introduction Section, the first two CASP dimensions (Control and Autonomy) constitute prerequisites for being able to participate in society. In contrast, the other CASP dimensions and the PERMA framework capture the extent to which those feelings are fulfilled. The qualitative analysis pointed to an additional, crucial prerequisite, namely, the decision agentic older adults must make about keeping their participation in society despite ageism, as eloquently expressed by one of the interviewees:

They [society] think that if you don’t hear well, you walk slowly, you become lesser. Society doesn’t support older people, and an older person must decide if he or she is still part of society or if we step aside because we think we won’t stand it... What does hope means in old age?... Yes, I am aware of my physical limitations... with this insight, which is so difficult for me at times, I understand that living means moving, and not just moving, moving forward with a clear goal. Without a goal, without a vision, what is life?... the frustrations of life that are inevitable may bring a person down and kill him while he is still alive.

The findings of the two study layers—the quantitative and the qualitative—highlight the role of curiosity in shaping how old adults perceive the quality of their life, addressing both the direct effect of curiosity and its effect as a mediator between continued interest in the profession and the perceived QoL. The relationships between curiosity, perceived QoL, and WB corroborate earlier findings regarding positive correlations between trait curiosity and WB ([21] (pp. 236–248), [22] (pp. 191–305), and [38] (pp. 135–140)). The results point to the role of curiosity in eliciting a sense of purpose in life [48], maintaining cognitive flexibility, and reducing the risk of cognitive decline ([14] (pp. 106–116) and [49] (pp. 945–951)), motivating learning ([50] (pp. 441–455) and [51] (pp. 82–93)), fostering resilience [52] (pp. 777–784), and enhancing social engagement, which constitute significant attributes of successful aging ([13] (pp. 433–440) and [53] (pp. 359–363)).

The results of the qualitative layer underscore two additional significant aspects: the impact of the joy of lifelong learning and exploring driven by curiosity on pleasure and self-realization—the two substantial factors of QoL, the WB factors defied by the PERMA framework, and the personal qualities that contribute to adaptive aging (mainly, a solid agentic disposition, deliberate inward and outward reflectiveness, resilience, readiness to take risks to achieve one’s goals, and embracing uncertainty).

Overall, the results lend support to Sakaki and colleagues’ [14] (pp. 106–116) contention based on the socioemotional selectivity theory [29] (pp. 165–181) that older adults are motivated to favor emotion-regulation goals and optimize their WB since they perceive time as being limited, which helps them stay healthy and happy and eagerly strive to achieve their goals.

It is worth noting that the prevailing perspective in the study of curiosity places considerable emphasis on individual agency. A current perspective from critical gerontology, as presented by authors who analyze aging from socio-structural aspects, argues that the individual agency perspective is insufficient to explain disparities in active and curious aging. They argue that socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and access to resources significantly influence the capacity of older adults to pursue new interests and learning opportunities ([54] (pp. 90–102) and [55] (pp. 295–302)). Emphasizing social, economic, and cultural inequalities could temper the emphasis placed on individual agency, thus affecting opportunities for active and curious aging.

4.2. Coping with Uncertainty in Old Age

According to the conceptualization suggested by Kashdan and colleagues ([40] (pp. 130–149) and [41] (pp. 689–704)), tolerance of stress and uncertainty constitutes one of the five curiosity dimensions; the current study’s results point to a large variability in how older adults cope with uncertainty. Evident in the qualitative layer are the following strategies: embracing uncertainty, not being bothered by uncertainty, disliking uncertainty but coping with it, and conditioning the coping strategy on the field (whether it is under the agent’s control or not).

Moreover, in an earlier study [56], which used the translated original version of the 5-DC questionnaire administered to a heterogeneous sample of younger adults, the measurement model yielded acceptable loadings for all five curiosity scales. In contrast, the current study of old and oldest-old adults yielded a weak relationship between the tolerance scale and the overall curiosity construct (Figure S1). It can thus be inferred that stress tolerance is less related to the curiosity construct among older adults despite the acceptable fit of the curiosity measurement model.

However, stress tolerance was the most significant predictor (among the curiosity scales) of QoL (as seen in Table S3). It remains for future research to explore whether ST in old age functions more as a marker of resilience than as a facet of curiosity.

4.3. The Effects of Demographic Factors on Curiosity and QoL in Old Age

The analysis of direct and indirect (through curiosity) effects of gender, age, marital status, and continued interest in the professional field yielded two interesting results. The first corroborates earlier findings that close partnership is one factor that significantly contributes to adaptive aging [11,12]. The second, a more subtle one, is that continued interest in the professional field indirectly affects adaptive aging through its effect on curiosity, meaning that continued interest in the profession positively affects curiosity, thus contributing to adaptive aging. In earlier studies, this mediating effect of curiosity was not exposed.

4.4. Implications

(a) Large-scale studies of older adults’ perceived QoL [3,11] revealed a lack of explicit mention of curiosity and engagement in intensive learning and consequent LoL. However, curiosity is malleable and can be cultivated even in old age [57]. It is thus recommended that caretakers and professionals working with older adults offer opportunities and interventions to ignite their curiosity flame, for instance, by exposing them to inspiriting narratives of old age curious minds, stimulating their lifelong learning skills [58] (pp. 132–249), precisely their question asking skills [59]. Moreover, they should help cultivate a growth mindset [60] by eliciting personal attributes that were shown to contribute to adaptive aging. Such interventions should consider that perceived QoL is a dynamic web of highly intertwined domains, so changes in one domain are likely to affect other domains as well [11].

(b) Given the importance of lifelong learning in the rapidly changing world and the significance of experiencing the LoL to enhance and deepen learning and given the scarcity of such experiences among teachers and students, it is suggested to introduce teachers to narratives of curiosity and joy of lifelong learning of older adults. It could be done by hosting such older adults (live or via conferencing platforms) in teacher preparation and teacher professional development programs so that the teachers can be impressed by the enthusiasm of the elderly and hear from them how curiosity led them to lifelong learning, arousing satisfaction and self-fulfillment. Following such meetings, teachers should be encouraged to develop engaging interventions to introduce their students to the effects of curiosity and LoL, which they were exposed to in their meetings with older adults.

4.5. Study Strengths, Limitations, and Suggestions for Further Research

The current study addresses a topic that suffers from a paucity of research—the effects of curiosity and LoL on the perceived QoL and WB of older adults. Its main strength lies in the mixed methodology; integrating the results from the two study layers helped deepen the understanding and inferences regarding the research questions.

However, despite its strengths, the current study is not free of limitations. They include the following: (1) The representation of the sample, which consists of active older adults of middle socioeconomic status and above, was restricted. Future studies should include a more representative sample to enable generalizability. (2) No direct measure of LoL was included in the quantitative layer, except for a limited reference embedded in curiosity’s joyous exploration (JE) dimension. However, the qualitative layer occasioned the identification of LoL through the comprehensive expressions in the interviews. To eliminate this restriction to generalizing the results, future studies should employ a validated LoL measure (e.g., from the VIA Institute on Character) or develop and validate a brief, specific scale. (3) No direct measures of personal attributes were included in the quantitative layer. However, they were evident in the interviews and explored in the qualitative layer, leading to insight regarding the crucial prerequisite of a proactive decision to participate in society. (4) Furthermore, no clear distinction was made regarding the effects of trait and state curiosity on professional interest and deep learning. Trait curiosity was mainly addressed as in many curiosity studies [19] (pp. 75–98); the current study also did not address the cultural effects of the underlying factors that drive curiosity and the LoL (although clues to such influence were revealed in the uniqueness and similarities in expressions of curiosity and LoL of two participants who were educated in the former Soviet Union compared with the other interviewees). In addition to addressing the aforementioned limitations, further research is recommended to explore cross-cultural comparisons of older adults and identify common and unique factors affecting adaptive aging worldwide.

5. Conclusions

“Old age isn’t a joy” is a common phrase in many languages, repeated with minor variations. Likewise, the adage “perception creates reality” is also widely used. The current study, particularly in its qualitative layer, demonstrated that curiosity and LoL affect older adults’ adaptive aging and are affected by their self-perception and proactive self-management.

Curiosity-driven motivation promotes lifelong learning. As was shown, those who seriously engage in constant learning and exploration experience joy, as revealed in a high sense of pleasure; positive affect; and feelings of self-realization, meaning, and accomplishment, which locates the LoL construct at the intersection of curiosity and the perceived QoL and WB.

Therefore, the study’s implications call for offering older adults a stage on which to present their adaptive aging because of experiencing curiosity that leads to joyous learning and discovery embedded in feelings of self-realization, meaning, and accomplishment. It could benefit older adults who have not experienced LoL and teachers who are expected to instill it in their students.