Do Not Go Gentle . . .

Growing old gracefully is a poetic ideal, but in real life, according to recent studies in Chicago, people are more likely to survive into a ripe old age if they are grouchy and pugnacious. Passive senior citizens seem to lack the moxie necessary to deal with all the natural shocks that aging flesh is heir to.

In one study, Morton A. Lieberman, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, interviewed 85 people between 63 and 91 who, at the beginning of the experiment, were on the waiting lists of three Chicago homes for the aged. All were physically and mentally well before admission to the homes. One year later, 62 of the original sample were interviewed again (23 were unavailable because of death, illness or unwillingness to continue participating in the study). Lieberman found that 44 of the subjects had survived the stress of relocation intact, while the rest had deteriorated markedly. The intact group turned out to share nine traits: high activity, aggression, narcissistic body images, authoritarian personalities, high status drive, distrust of others, disregard for others' viewpoints, a tendency to blame others and a resistance to blaming themselves. One might ask, however, whether living longer is worth the price of becoming such a person. Lieberman, who describes himself as an increasingly "tender and passive person," questions it, but then he is still only 42.

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