Researchers asked 203 older adults facing serious illness to tell their life story. What gave their lives purpose was rarely about themselves.
Researchers Asked 203 Seriously Ill Older Adults to Tell Their Life Story. When They Talked About What Gave Their Lives Purpose, Most of It Was About Other People.
In a 2026 study in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, psychologists Susan Bluck and Mary Kate Koch found that when older adults described a purpose they had pursued, it was aimed at other people more than twice as often as at themselves.
Ask most people what gives their life purpose and they will talk about goals. A career, a project, a dream they are chasing. It sounds like something you do for yourself.
Psychologists Susan Bluck and Mary Kate Koch went looking at how people describe purpose when they tell their whole life story. They read the recorded life stories of 203 older adults, ages 55 to 88, each one made to leave a document for their family. **Across those stories, purpose pointed outward, at other people, far more often than inward.**
The finding is quiet, but it changes how you think about a life story. It is not just a record of what happened. It is where a person says what all of it was for.
1. Most of the purpose they described was for someone else
Each participant completed a single life-story interview, between 19 and 94 minutes long. The researchers coded any passage where someone described a purpose that had a direction, lasted a long time, and carried real enthusiasm. **About 59% of participants (120 of 203) told at least one story like that, and together they described 216 instances of purpose.**
Of those, **153 were other-oriented and only 63 were self-oriented.** That is roughly 7 in 10 pointing at someone else, and the gap was statistically significant.
When people told the story of their whole life, the purpose in it mostly pointed toward other people.
2. The purposes were ordinary, and they were about people
The researchers sorted each purpose into a life area. **Family and work each accounted for 25% of them,** followed by moral philosophy at 18%, religion and spirituality at 15%, community at 10%, and hobbies at 5%.
One participant, a carpenter given the name Mark in the paper, described his purpose this way: "I like to teach. The younger ones come in and start workin' with me. I wanna make sure they know how to do things the right way." Nothing grand. Just a person handing something forward.
The purpose that mattered most was rarely a big achievement. It was passing something on to somebody.
3. They wanted the people they love to know
Another participant, named Naomi in the paper, said of her family history: "I wanna make sure they know this, and I want my grandchildren to know it... everybody should know who's in their past and do something about it."
The researchers point out what this means for a life story. **It is a chance to say what your life was for, in your own words, to the people who will still be here.** The study cannot tell us how those family members later felt about reading the documents. It only shows that the people telling the story reached, again and again, toward them.
A life story is one of the few places a person can say, in their own voice, what it was all for.
I wanna make sure they know this, and I want my grandchildren to know it... everybody should know who's in their past and do something about it.A participant given the name Naomi, quoted in Bluck and Koch (2026), Frontiers in Developmental Psychology
What you get with LifeScribe
- A 2026 study in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology analyzed the life-story interviews of 203 older adults, ages 55 to 88.
- About 59% described at least one long-held purpose, and 153 of the 216 purposes described were aimed at other people.
- Family was the most common area, tied with work, each at 25% of all purposes described.
- Built on documented research: Bluck and Koch, Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2026.
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Your family already wants to know what your life was for. Just a phone call, free. Ari asks about the people and moments that mattered, so the answer is kept in your own voice for the people you love.
The people in this study were asked once, and they answered for their families. Most of us are never asked. A purpose that was never said out loud is one the people we love may only ever guess at, and no one can ask us later.
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What did the study actually find?
A 2026 study in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology found that when older adults told their life story, the purposes they described were aimed at other people (153 instances) more than twice as often as at themselves (63 instances).
How was the study done?
The researchers analyzed recorded life-story interviews from 203 older adults, ages 55 to 88, each created to leave a document for family. They coded passages that showed a long-term, enthusiastic pursuit of a goal and sorted them into six life areas.
Which areas of life came up most?
Family and work each made up 25% of the purposes described, followed by moral philosophy (18%), religion and spirituality (15%), community engagement (10%), and hobbies and interests (5%).
Does the study say how families felt about the stories?
No. The authors note they had no data on the family members who received these documents or how they responded. The study describes what the storytellers said, not what their families did with it.
Who ran the study?
Susan Bluck of the University of Florida and Mary Kate Koch of Gonzaga University, published June 26, 2026 in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology (DOI 10.3389/fdpys.2026.1847686).
https://getlifescribeapp.com/blog/what-they-wanted-you-to-know