Activity diversity and psychological richness across midlife and older adulthood

OBJECTIVES: Psychological richness, a dimension of well-being characterized by novelty, complexity, and perspective change, is theoretically grounded in varied and unusual experiences. This study examined whether daily activity diversity was associated with psychological richness in two cohorts of midlife and older adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. METHODS: Daily reports were drawn from two cohorts of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study: MIDUS 2 (M2; N = 1,834) and the MIDUS Refresher (MR; N = 730). Daily activity diversity was quantified with Shannon entropy, capturing both the breadth and evenness of participants' daily activities. RESULTS: Lower activity diversity was associated with higher psychological richness in both cohorts (M2: β = -0.07, p <.001; MR: β = -0.06, p = .009). After adjustment for age, sex, education, race, and chronic health conditions, associations were inverse in both cohorts but statistically significant only in M2 (M2: β = -0.07, p <.001; MR: β = -0.04, p = .068). DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that broader activity repertoires do not necessarily correspond to greater psychological richness and that psychologically rich lives may coexist with relatively narrow patterns of daily engagement.