Logo of nihpaAbout Author manuscriptsSubmit a manuscriptHHS Public Access; Author Manuscript; Accepted for publication in peer reviewed journal;
PMC full text:
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2008 May 23.
Published in final edited form as:
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2005 Sep; 31(9): 1273–1285.
doi:  10.1177/0146167205274693

TABLE 3

Rankings of Life Regrets Within Life Domains (Studies 1 and 2a)

Study 1 (Meta-Analysis)
Study 2a (College Student Sample)
RankDomainProportion (%)RankDomainFrequency (%)
1Education32.21Romance26.7
2Career22.32Friends20.3
3Romance14.83Education16.7
4Parenting10.24Leisure10
5Self5.55Self10
6Leisure2.56Career6.7
7Finance2.57Family3.3
8Family2.38Health3.3
9Health1.59Spirituality3.3
10Friends1.510Community0
11Spirituality1.311Finance0
12Community0.9512Parenting0

NOTE: The ranking for Study 1 is based on the proportion of all regrets mentioned that centered on a particular life domain (codings sometimes include more than one regret per participant). The ranking for Study 2a is based on the frequency with which the sole regret cited by each participant centered on a particular life domain.