Parental divorce: effects on individual behavior and longevity.

Using an archival prospective design, the authors studied associations among parental divorce occurring during participants' childhood, adult psychosocial mediators, and mortality over the life span of a subgroup of participants (N = 1,261) in the Terman Life Cycle Study (1921-1991). Children from divorced families grew up to show a higher risk of premature mortality across the life span. The higher mortality risk for men was explained, in part, when 3 mediating factors were controlled: Men who had experienced parental divorce were more likely to have their own marriages end in divorce, obtained less education, and engaged in fewer service activities. Women who had experienced parental divorce smoked more and were more likely themselves to divorce, both of which predicted higher mortality risk. The findings extend previous work on the negative sequelae of parental divorce to long-term effects on personality and longevity.

An archival prospective study of mental health and longevity.

The relationship between mental health status and longevity was examined in an archival prospective cohort study (N = 1,103) derived from work begun by Lewis Terman in the 1920s. Degree of psychological maladjustment, cumulatively rated by Terman and his colleagues as of 1950, was found to be related to higher risk of all-cause mortality over a 4-decade follow-up period. The differences among causes of death were nonsignificant, but there was some indication that mental health problems were more strongly related to deaths from injury and cardiovascular disease. The overall relationship was significant for men but weaker for women. The effect was not substantially mediated by alcohol consumption, obesity, or cigarette smoking.

Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in childhood as predictors of adult mortality.

OBJECTIVES: Childhood sociodemographic, psychosocial, and environmental factors are often assumed to affect adult health and longevity. These relationships were prospectively tested by using the 7-decade Terman Life Cycle Study of Children With High Ability (n = 1285). METHODS: Parental socioeconomic status, childhood health, objective childhood stressors (e.g., death or divorce of parents), and childhood personality were considered as potential predictors in hazard regression analyses of longevity through 1991. RESULTS: Parental divorce during childhood predicted decreased longevity, with sex controlled. Other potential social predictors failed to show significant associations with longevity. Three dimensions of childhood personality--conscientiousness, lack of cheerfulness, and permanency of mood (males only)--predicted increased longevity. The effects of parental divorce and childhood personality were largely independent and did not account for any of the gender difference in mortality. CONCLUSIONS: A small number of childhood factors significantly predicted mortality across the life span in this sample. Further research should focus on how these psychosocial factors influence longevity.

Childhood conscientiousness and longevity: health behaviors and cause of death.

Previous research showed that conscientiousness (social dependability) in childhood predicted longevity in an archival prospective cohort study of bright children first studied by Terman in the 1920s (H. S. Friedman et al., 1993). Possible behavioral mechanisms for this robust association are now examined by gathering cause of death information and by considering the possible mediating influences of drinking alcohol, smoking, and overeating. Survival analyses (N = 1,215) suggest that the protective effect of conscientiousness is not primarily due to accident avoidance and cannot be mostly explained by abstinence from unhealthy substance intake. Conscientiousness may have more wide-ranging effects on health-relevant activities.

Psychosocial and behavioral predictors of longevity. The aging and death of the "termites".

Impulsive, undercontrolled personalities and major family stresses are known predictors of impaired adjustment, but long-term health effects are unclear. In an archival prospective cohort design, we followed up on L. M. Terman's (Terman & Oden, 1947) sample of gifted children by collecting and coding death certificates for the half of the sample that is now dead. Statistical survival analyses were used to predict longevity and cause of death as a function of parental divorce during childhood, unstable marriage patterns in adulthood, childhood personality, adult adjustment, and possible mediating health behaviors. Psychosocial factors emerged as important risks for premature mortality.

Is breast-feeding in infancy associated with adult longevity?

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to determine whether breast-feeding is associated with increased longevity or cause-specific survival. METHODS: Teachers throughout California identified intellectually gifted children as part of a prospective study begun in the 1920s by Lewis Terman. Information on breast-feeding was available on 1170 subjects, who have been followed for more than 65 years. RESULTS: Survival analysis (Cox proportional hazards model) indicated that breast-feeding was associated with increased longevity, even after adjustment for age at baseline, birthweight, infant health, and childhood socioeconomic status, but only among men, and the association was not significant (P = .15). Neither cardiovascular disease nor cancer survival was significantly associated with duration of breast-feeding for either sex. Survival from deaths due to injuries was positively associated with breast-feeding after adjustment (P = .03) and demonstrated a clear gradient with duration, but only among men. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the present study does not provide strong evidence that breast-feeding is associated with adult longevity. The reduced risk of death from injury may reflect chance, in that the association was significant only for men, or it may reflect psychosocial correlates of breast-feeding practices.

Does childhood personality predict longevity?

Key models relating personality and health predict that personality in childhood is indicative of later health and longevity. Longevity predictions are tested using data derived from the 7-decade longitudinal study initiated by L. M. Terman 1921 (L. M. Terman & M. H. Oden, 1947). Variables representing major dimensions of personality are used in statistical survival analyses of longevity in 1,178 males and females. Conscientiousness in childhood was clearly related to survival in middle to old age. This finding (a) establishes that childhood personality is related to survival decades into the future, (b) confirms the validity of the conscientiousness dimension in conceptualizing personality, and (c) points to likely and unlikely pathways linking personality to health. Contrary to expectation, cheerfulness (optimism and sense of humor) was inversely related to longevity, suggesting a possible need for reconceptualization of its health relevance.

Cognitive consequences of congenital deafness.

Comparing congenitally deaf children with hearing children on a variety of information processing tasks provides a natural test of the developmental consequences accompanying the long term loss of a particular sensory input. In this experiment, two sequential and two spatial tasks were used to evaluate the way deaf and hearing individuals process these different types of information. When deaf students were asked to recall the order of a string of lights, they performed as well as hearing students. Deaf students were at a significant disadvantage, however, when processing sequentially presented digits. Deaf students performed as well as hearing students on two complex, standardized spatial tasks. The loss of a major sensory modality had minimal effect on three of the four tasks investigated in the present study. Explanations for the single task with a performance differential are considered.

The context of suicide.

An analysis of eight cases of female suicide, drawn from Terman's Genetic Study of Genius sample, found little foreshadowing of suicide in the subjects' childhood and adolescence, absence of paternal involvement and concomitantly strong maternal influence, somatization of problems, perceived lack of accomplishment, and diminished sense of self-esteem in adulthood. Comparisons with male suicides in the Terman sample are discussed.

The importance of being first: an analysis of tachistoscopic presentations of words.

The importance of the first letter of a word as a cue for the rest of the word was explored in a tachistoscopic presentation of four letter English words to the two hemispheres. The positioning of words presented bilaterally and the frequency of the words were manipulated so that the role of the first letter could be examined. The results indicate that the first letter does not play the critical role in word recognition that has been ascribed to it. In the standard bilateral presentation, subjects' recall patterns indicated that first letters were recalled equally well whether the word was presented in the right or left visual field. However, subjects did not recall as many words correctly when they went to the left visual field. The results were interpreted as supporting an information processing view of hemispheric specialization. Such a view proposes several levels of functioning in which the two hemispheres overlap, cooperate, or specialize, depending on the task to be accomplished.

Is hemispheric specialization important to scholastic achievement?

Scholastic achievement in both reading and mathematics were examined as a function of hemispheric specialization for visually presented words and pictures. Two groups of subjects (mean ages = 8.8 and 13.3) were included so that hemispheric specialization at an early and later phase of reading sophistication could be monitored. The results indicated that a lack of specialization for words is associated with higher reading achievement in both age groups and that right hemispheric specialization for words is likely to be accompanied by less reading skill. The results were discussed in terms of developmental changes in hemispheric processing and the need to investigate a variety of hemispheric specialization patterns and a variety of acquired skills (music, mathematics, art).

Cognitive and interpersonal growth during the college freshman year: a structural analysis.

The present paper attempts a structural analysis of the relationship between logical operations, personality organization, and personality traits in college students. Since college students cover a wide range of operational abilities, one should be able to examine this age group to see whether or not different modes of thinking are reflected in personality measures. 55 freshmen were administered a measure of formal operations consisting of eight suboperations and a complete score, the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and the conceptual complexity measure. A structural analysis of the interrelationships is discussed in terms of a core cognitive function.

Effects of cognitively induced anxiety on hand temperature.

This study explored the relationship of cognitively induced anxiety and hand temperature reduction in a nonclinical sample. Forty college students were randomly assigned to either the Anxiety Group or the Pleasant Group. Following a baseline period, individuals in the Anxiety Group discussed with the experimenter topics which were anxiety-producing for them. Individuals in the Pleasant Group discussed topics of a pleasant nature. During these discussions, hand temperatures were recorded from the palmar surface of the third finger on the dominant hand. Data analysis indicated that hand temperature decreases were significant only in subjects discussing anxiety-producing topics.