William Atkins
Sunday, 02 November 2008 20:51
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
Kern and Friedman stated in the
abstract of their paper:
“Following up on growing evidence that higher levels of conscientiousness are associated with greater health protection, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of the association between conscientiousness-related traits and longevity.”
They found that,
“Higher levels of conscientiousness were significantly and positively related to longevity.”
And,
“Associations were strongest for the achievement (persistent, industrious) and order (organized, disciplined) facets of conscientiousness.”
They concluded,
“Results strongly support the importance of conscientiousness-related traits to health across the life span. Future research and interventions should consider how individual differences in conscientiousness may cause and be shaped by health-relevant biopsychosocial events across many years.”
Consequently, the researchers contend that living a conscientious life—such as a successful businessperson, respected civic leader, and energetic volunteer—relates to a longer lifespan.
Kern and Friedman found that people who were less conscientious (I think that probably means “tends to be lazy") are over 50% more likely to die at any given age, on average, than other people (of the same age) that are more conscientious.
The two psychologists also found within their study that of all the conscientious people, the people that live the longest lives are the ones that
achieve the most in life.
Dr. Kern states,
“These are individuals who are hard-working, resourceful, confident and ambitious.” [New Scientist: “The secret to a longer life? Being conscientious,” page 10, October 25-31, 2008]
Think about some of the famous people in the world. The ones that were the most hard-working probably lived longer than the average person of his or her day.
For example, U.S. inventor Thomas Edison lived to be 84 years old. He is considered one if not the most prolific inventors of modern times. Edison holds over 1,000 U.S. patients for his various inventions.
He died in 1931 when the life expectancy in the United States for a man was only
58 years.
Find out the second and third most long-living groups within the larger
conscientious group on page three. I'm trying to be orderly, page 1,
then page 2, and now page 3.
