ERIC Number: ED290984
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1987-Aug-30
Pages: 16
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Attitudes toward Suffering in Young Adulthood and Middle Life.
Foley, Daniel P.
Past research has demonstrated the prevalence of 11 attitudes toward personal suffering among retirees: punitive, testing, personal growth, bad luck, resignation to the will of God, redemptive, divine perspective, minimizing, submission to the laws of nature, acceptance of the human condition, and defensive attitude. This study examined attitudes toward suffering in 50 young adult college students and 50 middle aged adults, all of whom were in good health and none of whom had just been afflicted with appreciable suffering. The 99-item questionnaire devised for the study on retirees was administered to the young and middle aged subjects. The results revealed significant differences between young and middle aged respondents on the personal growth attitude, the bad luck attitude, the punitive attitude, and the testing attitude. No significant difference was found between males and females on any of the 11 attitudes. All significant changes in attitude were negative (subjects dropped aspects of their attitudes as they reached middle age) except in the case of middle aged men who grew in their redemptive attitude toward suffering. (NB)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A