OLD PEOPLE ARE NOT THAT GRUMPY, STUDY FINDS
Elderly people do not all suffer from the grumpy old man syndrome, according to research claiming that age brings a sense of peace and calm.
The stereotype of irritated pensioners complaining about today’s youngsters has been challenged by a study published in the Social Science and Medicine Journal.
While youth may mean strength, fun and excitement, age has its own benefits, said the scientists who found that older people experience positive and passive emotions.
Texas University researchers looked at nearly 1,500 answers to 1996 US general social survey of people aged 18 and over living in America.
They examined responses to questions focused on emotions.
Participants responded to statements such as “On how many days in the past seven days have you felt that you couldn’t shake the blues, felt sad, felt calm or felt outraged?”
The researchers then graded responses into groups such as active, passive, negative and positive.
The results indicated that old age is associated with more passive emotions, but fewer negative emotions.
Emotions described as active and negative like anxiety and anger were less common amongst the elderly.
The down side was that older people experienced more bouts of depression compared to the middle-aged.
Catherine Ross, one of the researchers, said: “The positive/passive combination largely implies that contentment, calm and ease are some of the most common emotions felt by older people.”
It was also found that the well-educated and those with higher family incomes had significantly more positive emotions than the poor and poorly educated.
(Telegraph)
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