Centre for Policy on Ageing



Curiosity and mortality in aging adults — a 5-year follow-up of the Western Collaborative Group Study
Author(s)	Gary E Swan, Dorit Carmelli
Journal title	Psychology and Aging, vol 11, no 3, September 1996
Pages	pp 449-453
Keywords	Mental health [elderly] ; Mental ageing ; Longevity ; Living in the community.
Annotation	Research suggests that curiosity in older people is associated with maintaining the health of the ageing central nervous system. The authors examined the relationship of curiosity in 1,118 community-dwelling older men to subsequent survival over a 5-year period. Curiosity was measured when the participants were a mean age of 70.6 years. Initial levels of trait and state curiosity were higher in survivors than those who subsequently died. After adjustment for other risk factors, the state curiosity-mortality association remained significant in the Cox regression model. Ancillary analysis in 1,035 older women (mean age at initial examination 68.6 years) confirmed the pattern found in the men. State curiosity in these women was significantly associated with survival after adjusting for other risk factors. This is the first study to identify a predictive role for curiosity in the longevity of older adults.
Accession Number	CPA-971120211 A
Classmark	D: D6: BGA: K4
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.