Publications

Edited Book

• Ai, A. L., & Ardelt, M. (Eds.). (2009). Faith and well-being in later life: Linking theories with evidence in an interdisciplinary inquiry. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.

Selected Publications

• Ardelt, M. (2026). Declining health and sense of mastery can explain the inverse relation between advanced age and wisdom. Journal of Ageing and Longevity, 6(24), 1-15.
• Zadworna, M., & Ardelt, M. (2025). Understanding mental health in older adults: Exploring the interplay of wisdom, perceived poor health, and attitudes toward aging. Aging & Mental Health, 29(8), 1485-1496.
• Ardelt, M. (2025). Is AI wise? Filosofiska Notiser (Philosophical Notes), 12(1), 61–91.
• Ardelt, M. (2025). Wisdom predicts emotional intelligence and wise reasoning. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 20(1), 123-135.
• Ardelt, M. (2024). Wisdom development and self-transcendence: A merging of self and Other. Possibility Studies & Society, 2(2), 191–196.
• Ardelt, M., & Kingsbury, J. (2024). Wisdom, virtues, and well-being: An empirical test of Aristotle’s theory of flourishing. Topoi, 43, 879–893.
• Zadworna, M., & Ardelt, M. (2024). The mediating role of health-related behavior in the relationship between wisdom and depressive symptoms in older Polish adults. Aging & Mental Health, 28(7), 1029-1040.
• Zare Mazloom, M., Ardelt, M., Asadi, S., & Dehghani, F. (2024). Parents’ wisdom and adolescents’ cognitive, social, and emotional developmental qualities. Journal of Family Issues, 45(3), 616-646.
• Ardelt, M., Kim, J. J., & Ferrari, M. (2023). Does self-transcendent wisdom mediate the relation between spirituality and well-being? A test across six nations. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(5), 1683–1702.
• Ardelt, M., & Sharma, B. (2023). The benefits of wise organizations for employee well-being. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 42(2), 171–204.
• Ardelt, M., & Jeste, D. V. (2022). Wisdom as a resiliency factor for subjective well-being in later life. Psychosoziale und Medizinische Rehabilitation [Practice of Clinical Behavioral Medicine and Rehabilitation], 118(2), 13-28.
• Ardelt, M., & Sharma, B. (2021). Linking wise organizations to wise leadership, job satisfaction, and well-being. Frontiers in Communication: Organizational Psychology, 6(235), 1-23.
• Ardelt, M., & Bruya, B. (2021). Three-dimensional wisdom and perceived stress among college students. Journal of Adult Development, 28, 93–105.

• Ardelt, M. (2020). Can wisdom and psychosocial growth be learned in university courses? The Journal of Moral Education, 49, 30-45.

• Ardelt, M., & Ferrari, M. (2019). Effects of wisdom and religiosity on subjective well-being in old age and young adulthood: Exploring the pathways through mastery and purpose in life. International Psychogeriatrics, 31, 477–489.

• Ferrari, M., Bang, H., Ardelt, M., & Feng, Z. (2019). Educating for virtue: How wisdom coordinates informal, non-formal and formal education in motivation to virtue in Canada and South Korea. Journal of Moral Education, 48(1), 47-64.

• Ardelt, M., & Grunwald, S. (2018). The Importance of self-reflection and awareness for human development in hard times. Research in Human Development, 15, 187-199.

• Ardelt, M., Gerlach, K. R., & Vaillant, G. E. (2018). Early and midlife predictors of wisdom and subjective well-being in old age. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 73, 1514–1525.

• Ardelt, M., Pridgen, S., & Nutter-Pridgen, K. L. (2018). The relation between age and three-dimensional wisdom: Variations by wisdom dimensions and education. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 73, 1339–1349.

• Ardelt, M., & Jeste, D. (2018). Wisdom and hard times: The ameliorating effect of wisdom on the negative association between adverse life events and well-being. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 73, 1374–1383.

• Bruya, B., & Ardelt, M. (2018). Wisdom can be taught: A proof-of-concept study for fostering wisdom in the classroom. Learning and Instruction, 58, 106–114.

• Thomas, M. L., Bangen, K. J., Ardelt, M., & Jeste, D. V. (2017). Development of a 12-item abbreviated Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS-12): Item selection and psychometric properties. Assessment, 24, 71-82.

• Ardelt, M. (2016). Disentangling the relations between wisdom and different types of well-being in old age: Findings from a short-term longitudinal study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(5), 1963-1984. 

• Ardelt, M., & Edwards, C. A. (2016). Wisdom at the end of life: An analysis of mediating and moderating relations between wisdom and subjective well-being. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 71(3), 502-513. 

• Owens, J. E., Menard, M., Plews-Ogan, M., Calhoun, L. G., & Ardelt, M. (2016). Stories of growth and wisdom: A mixed-methods study of people living well with pain. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 5(1), 16-28.

• Plews-Ogan, M., May, N., Owens, J. E., Ardelt, M., Shapiro, J., & Bell, S. K. (2016). Wisdom in medicine: What helps physicians after a medical error? Academic Medicine, 91(2), 233-241.

• Weststrate, N. M., Ferrari, M., & Ardelt, M. (2016). The many faces of wisdom: An investigation of cultural-historical wisdom exemplars reveals practical, philosophical, and benevolent prototypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(5), 662–676. 

• Cheraghi, F., Kadivar, P., Ardelt, M., Asgari, A., & Farzad, V. (2015). Gender as a moderator of the relation between age cohort and three-dimensional wisdom in Iranian culture. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 81(1-2), 3-26. 

• Oden, C., Ardelt, M., & Ruppel, C. (2015). Wisdom and its relation to ethical attitude in organizations. Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 34(2), 141-164.

• Landes, S. D., Ardelt, M., Vaillant, G. E., & Waldinger, R. J. (2014). Childhood adversity, midlife generativity, and later life well-being. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69(6), 942–952.

• Bergsma, A., & Ardelt, M. (2012). Self-reported wisdom and happiness: An empirical investigation. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(3), 481-499.

• Ardelt, M. (2011). The measurement of wisdom: A commentary on Taylor, Bates, and Webster’s comparison of the SAWS and 3D-WS. Experimental Aging Research, 37(2), 241-255.

• Ardelt, M. (2010). Are older adults wiser than college students? A comparison of two age cohorts. Journal of Adult Development, 17(4), 193-207.

• Ardelt, M., Landes, S. D., & Vaillant, G. E. (2010). The long-term effects of World War II combat exposure on later life well-being moderated by generativity. Research in Human Development, 7(3), 202-220.

• Jeste, D. V., Ardelt, M., Blazer, D., Kraemer, H. C., Vaillant, G., & Meeks, T. W. (2010). Expert consensus on characteristics of wisdom: A Delphi method study. The Gerontologist, 50(5), 668-680.
• Ardelt, M. (2009).  How similar are wise men and women? A comparison across two age cohorts. Research in Human Development, 6(1), 9-26.
• Ardelt, M. (2008). Being wise at any age. In S. J. Lopez (Ed.): Positive psychology: Exploring the best in people. Volume 1: Discovering human strengths (pp. 81-108). Westport, CT: Praeger.
• Ardelt, M. (2008). Self-development through selflessness: The paradoxical process of growing wiser. In H. A. Wayment & J. J. Bauer (Eds.), Transcending self-interest: Psychological explorations of the quiet ego (pp. 221-233). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
• Ardelt, M., Ai, A. L., & Eichenberger, S. E. (2008). In search for meaning: The differential role of religion for middle-aged and older persons diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Journal of Religion, Spirituality and Aging, 20(4), 288-312.
• Ardelt, M., & Koenig, C. S. (2007). The importance of religious orientation in dying well: Evidence from three case studies. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 19(4), 61-79.
• Ardelt, M., & Koenig, C. S. (2006). The role of religion for hospice patients and relatively healthy older adults. Research on Aging, 28(2), 184-215.
• Ardelt, M. (2005). How wise people cope with crises and obstacles in life. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 28(1), 7-19.
• Ardelt, M. (2004). Wisdom as expert knowledge system: A critical review of a contemporary operationalization of an ancient concept. Human Development, 47(5), 257-285.
• Ardelt, M. (2004). Where can wisdom be found? – A reply to the commentaries by Baltes and Kunzmann, Sternberg, and Achenbaum. Human Development, 47(5), 304-307.
• Ardelt, M. (2003). Empirical assessment of a three-dimensional wisdom scale. Research on Aging, 25(3), 275-324.
• Ardelt, M. (2003). Effects of religion and purpose in life on elders’ subjective well-being and attitudes toward death. Journal of Religious Gerontology, 14(4), 55-77.
• Ardelt, M. (2003). Physician-assisted death. Pp. 424-434 in: C. D. Bryant et al. (eds.): Handbook of Death and Dying, Volume One: The Presence of Death, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Ardelt M., & Day, L. (2002). Parents, siblings, and peers: Close social relationships and adolescent deviance. Journal of Early Adolescence, 22(3), 310-349.
• Ardelt, M., & Eccles, J. S. (2001). Effects of mothers’ parental efficacy beliefs and promotive parenting strategies on inner-city youth. Journal of Family Issues, 22(8), 944-972.
• Ardelt, M. (2000). Still stable after all these years? Personality stability theory revisited. Social Psychology Quarterly, Special Millennium Issue on The State of Sociological Social Psychology, 63(4), 392-405.
• Ardelt, M. (2000). Intellectual versus wisdom-related knowledge: The case for a different kind of learning in the later years of life. Educational Gerontology: An International Journal of Research and Practice, 26(8), 771-789.
• Ardelt, M. (2000). Antecedents and effects of wisdom in old age: A longitudinal perspective on aging well. Research on Aging, 22(4), 360-394.
• Ardelt, M. (1998). Social crisis and individual growth: The long-term effects of the Great Depression. Journal of Aging Studies, 12(3), 291-314.
• Ardelt, M. (1997). Wisdom and life satisfaction in old age. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences, 52B(1), P15-P27.
• Elder, G. H., Eccles, J., Ardelt, M., & Lord, S. (1995). Inner city parents under economic pressure: Perspectives on the strategies of parenting.” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 771-784.
• Elder, G. H., Conger, R. D., Foster, E. M., & Ardelt, M. (1992). Families under economic pressure. Journal of Family Issues, 13(1), 5-37.
• Blau, P. M., Ruan, D., & Ardelt, M. (1991). Interpersonal choice and networks in China. Social Forces, 69(4), 1037-1062.