As someone who grew up around individuals who swore by ‘conventional wisdom’ regarding health, I find it interesting to read about the truths behind them. My mother and her side of the family is Chinese and it is not uncommon to hear someone making claims about how healthy following a certain fad, alternative medicine, or superstition made them. Personally, I don’t subscribe to the same philosophies as my parents. However, Terman’s findings on individual pathways and affect of personalities on longevity struck me because it made me consider the choices I have made and the habits I have exhibited since I was born on my lifespan. Unlike Patricia and James, I was neither highly sociable nor popular in school due to being an introvert and as a result, only having only a few close friends. In fact, I was briefly mute in school for about a year when I first started pre-K due to my anxiety. Since then I have improved my sociability slightly and intend to continue improving but this study did make me question whether or not this lack of sociability will become relevant when I die. Additionally, because the foundation of this study primarily rests on personality, I’m curious as to how certain often debilitating personality disorders, such as dissociative personality disorder and borderline personality disorder, affect longevity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As someone who grew up around individuals who swore by ‘conventional wisdom’ regarding health, I find it interesting to read about the truths behind them. My mother and her side of the family is Chinese and it is not uncommon … Continue reading