The Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Developmental Psychological Perspectives on Transitions at Age 60: Individuals Navigating Across the Lifespan (TRAILS)

The Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development has continued with a new data collection phase called TRAILS, funded by the Research Council of Finland. In this phase, the JYLS participants were around 60 years of age, that is, approaching late adulthood. The aim of TRAILS is to examine the underlying factors and mechanisms that predict mental well-being, with a particular focus on retirement or the anticipation of retirement, possible continued working, possible grandparenthood, health and leisure activities, and the relation of all these to well-being. The role of personality, early development, and societal demands in these contexts are also being examined.

Table of contents

Project duration
-
Core fields of research
Physical activity, health and wellbeing
Research areas
Physical activity, wellbeing and behaviour change across the life-span
Faculty
Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences
Funding
Research Council of Finland
TRAILS project is funded by the Research Council of Finland (2019-2023, decision number 323541).

Project description

The TRAILS study, for which new research data on people around age 60 has been gathered, is a continuation of the the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS), which started in 1968 at the Department of Psychology, Ģֱ. 

This new study phase, under the title TRAILS, is funded by the Research Council of Finland and examines the factors and mechanisms that predict mental well-being at around age 61, when people are approaching late adulthood. The research themes include the associations of life transitions, such as retirement or the anticipation of retirement, grandparenthood, health concerns, and changing leisure activities, with well-being, along with the role of personality, early development, and societal demands in these associations. The TRAILS study is being carried out at the Gerontology Research Centre in the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Ģֱ.

The new TRAILS data collected during 2020-2021 is expected to increase knowledge on well-being at the threshold of late adulthood and on the underlying developmental paths as well as the individual's own role in this context. The study will increase knowledge on the risk factors accumulating during the life span that could jeopardise the success of the transition to late adulthood at around age 60, and hence help in developing ways to address these risk factors and contribute to favourable development during late adulthood. The TRAILS study will also examine the positive factors linked to well-being and possibly also to the experience of late adulthood as a psychologically satisfying phase of life. This, in turn, may lead to more positive attitudes towards older adults in work and other environments.

More information about TRAILS and JYLS

Past stages and methods used in JYLS

Year Age Participants Methods
1968 8 196 boys
173 girls
Peer-nominations
Teacher-ratings
Personality inventories
    60 boys Aggression inventories
School achievement tests
1969 9 60 boys Aggression machine (PAM)
    174 boys Teacher-ratings
1974 14 189 boys
167 girls
Peer-nominations
Teacher-ratings
    77 boys
77 girls
Subject interview
Parental interview
1980 20 68 men
67 women
Subject interview
Self-report inventories
1986 27 166 men
155 women
Mailed Life Situation Questionnaire
Psychological interview + EPQ, SSS
1992 33 123 men
126 women
NEO-PI (Costa & McCrae)
TV watching survey
1995 36 161 men
152 women
Mailed Life Situation Questionnaire
Psychological interview + inventories
1997-1999 38-40 55 men + spouses
54 women + spouses
Interview + inventories
Family observations
  7-13 149 children of the participants Laboratory tests 
Inventories
Teacher and parental ratings
2001 42 151 men
134 women
Mailed Life Situation Questionnaire
Psychological interview + inventories
Health examination
2009 50 141 men
127 women
Mailed Life Situation Questionnaire
Psychological interview + inventories
Health examination
2020-2021 61 99 men
107 women
Mailed Life Situation Questionnaire
Psychological interview + inventories
Health examination
Accelerometer-measurement
Main data collection phases bolded. PAM = Pulkkinen Aggression Machine, EPQ = Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, SSS = Sensation Seeking Scale, NEO-PI = Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness Personality Inventory
 
PI: prof. emerita Lea Pulkkinen 1968-2012, docent Katja Kokko 2013-

Project team

External members

Lea Pulkkinen

Psykologian professori emerita
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Taru Feldt

Professori, PsT
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Sakari Taipale

Professori, FT
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Johanna Rantanen

Yliopistotutkija, PsT
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Tuuli Pitkänen

Tutkimuspäällikkö, FT
Nuorisotutkimusseura

Sarianna Sipilä

Liikuntagerontologian professori, Liikuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan dekaani
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Eija Laakkonen

Apulaisprofessori, FT
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Taina Rantanen

Gerontologian ja kansanterveyden professori
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Marja-Liisa Kinnunen

Tutkimusjohtaja, FT
Keski-Suomen hyvinvointialue, Itä-Suomen yliopisto

Timo Törmäkangas

Yliopistotutkija, FT (tilastotiede)
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Markku Kauppinen

Projektitutkija, FM, tilastotieteilijä
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Jane Kroger

professori emerita
Tromssan yliopisto, Norja

Ursula Staudinger

professori, rehtori
TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Saksa

Johanna Ahola

Väitöskirjatutkija, TtM
Jyväskylän yliopisto

Tiia Kekäläinen

Erikoistutkija, TtT
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu

Tiina Savikangas

Tutkijatohtori (apurahatutkija), TtT
Jyväskylän yliopisto