Life goals and commitment are integral to developmental processes and satisfactions in adulthood and aging. Yet the maintenance and pursuit of appropriate goals and commitments during the aging years may pose particular challenges for the individual within the social context of normal aging. This study examined goals, activity participation, and well-being in aging, using data from 293 women in Terman's Study of the Gifted. Subjects responded to a 1982 questionnaire when they were between the ages of 65 and 75, and had also responded to a questionnaire 10 years earlier. Responses to the 1972 survey classified subjects as homemakers, career workers, or job holders. In 1982, subjects responded to questions about life goals, activities, health, and psychological well-being. The results indicated that the career women in the sample were advantaged relative to the homemakers and income workers in regard to their levels of life goals and activity participation. Career women maintained more ambition about excellence in work, even when retired, and reported a significantly higher level of psychological well-being and a marginal tendency to report better health than other subjects. These findings suggest that women's participation in higher level jobs is psychologically beneficial to them, and that, for intellectually able women, the benefits of career pursuits may persist after the formal pursuit of careers has ended. (NB)