This study reports the relationships between certain biographical, demographic, and motivational variables and longevity of 108 graduates (1907 to 1967) from a small Kansas high school. The early deceased individuals (n = 10) were older, better educated, reported more honors, had slightly lower achievement motivation scores, and had more boys but fewer girls and slightly more children on the average, than the yet living group (n = 98). Variables which predicted specific causes of death (cancer and heart attack victims) included the number and sex of children and achievement motivation scores.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DunbarF.Emotions and bodily changes: A survey of literature on psychosomatic interrelationships 1910–1953. New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1954.
MatterD. E.Achievement motivation in high school graduates (1907–1967) and occupational correlates. Psychological Reports, 1977, 41, 1271–1274. (a).
4.
MatterD. E.High school graduates' achievement motivation and the prediction of the economic development of a small midwestern community from 1907 to 1967. Psychological Reports, 1977, 41, 167–172. (b).
5.
MatterD. E.MatterS.Achieved honors as perceived by high school graduates. Journal of the Association for the Study of Perception, 1971, 6, 22–26.
6.
McClellandD.Personality. New York: William Sloane, 1951.
7.
NieN. H.HullC. H.JenkinsJ. G.SteinbrennerK.BentD. H.Statistical package for the social sciences (Version 6). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
8.
PalmoreE.JeffersF. C. (Eds.) Prediction of life span. Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1971.
SawreyW. L.WeiszJ. D.An experimental method of producing gastric ulcers. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1956, 49, 269–270.
11.
SelyeH.The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956.
12.
TatsuokaM. M.Discriminant analysis. Champaign, Ill.: Institute for Personality & Ability Testing, 1970.
13.
WarnerW.MeekerM.EellsK.Social class in America: A manual of procedure for the measurement of social status. Chicago: Science Research Assoc., 1949.
14.
WolfS.WolffH. G.Evidence of the genesis of peptic ulcer in man. In TompkinsS. S. (Ed.), Contemporary psychopathology. Cambridge: Harvard Univer. Press, 1943. Pp. 163–174.
15.
WolowttzH. M.Oral involvement in peptic ulcer. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1967, 31, 418–419.
