AN ARCHIVAL PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF MENTAL-HEALTH AND LONGEVITY

The relationship between mental health status and longevity was examin ed in an archival prospective cohort study (N = 1,103) derived from wo rk begun by Lewis Terman in the 1920s. Degree of psychological maladju stment, cumulatively rated by Terman and his colleagues as of 1950, wa s found to be related to higher risk of all-cause mortality over a 4-d ecade follow-up period. The differences among causes of death were non significant, but there was some indication that mental health problems were more strongly related to deaths from injury and cardiovascular d isease. The overall relationship was significant for men but weaker fo r women. The effect was not substantially mediated by alcohol consumpt ion, obesity, or cigarette smoking.