X-Message-Number: 30440
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Extending the Human Life Span: Assessing Pro- and Anti-Longev...
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 15:15:51 +0100

This a poster abstract and should probably be considered a preliminary  
result.

dss



15th Annual PACE UNIVERSITY PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE May 12, 2007

webpage.pace.edu/rvelayo/ paceconference/Abstracts2007.doc


Extending the Human Life Span: Assessing Pro- and Anti-Longevity  
Attitudes

Authors: Jennifer Tucker, M.S. and Nathan Kogan, Ph.D.
Affiliation: New School for Social Research, Department of Psychology

Working with a diversity of species, biologists have extended the life  
span by 30 to 40% in yeast cells, fruit flies, worms, and mice.  The  
success of this effort has raised the question of extrapolation to  
humans, prompting debate among bioethicists, some of whom have  
expressed concerns about the dubious morality and economic  
impracticality of prolonging senescence.  Despite increasing numbers  
of longevity debates in popular media and print, we have surprisingly  
little knowledge of the public's attitudes regarding life span  
extension.  Accordingly, we constructed a 35-item, 4-point Likert-type  
scale containing both pro- and anti-longevity items.  Pro-longevity  
attitudes are defined as being for the extension of the human life  
span while anti-longevity attitudes are defined as being against that  
extension (i.e., the current life span is thought to be sufficient).   
Items were grouped into seven content categories: prolonging  
senescence, improving life satisfaction, intergenerational  
relationships, importance of pro-longevity research, effects on life  
goals, economic effects, and self-deprivation. The instrument was  
administered to a total of 120 college students, white-collar workers,  
and community-dwelling older adults.  Reliability (alpha) proved  
satisfactory (r=.85).  Agreeing to pro-longevity items was  
significantly correlated (r=.40, p<.001) with disagreeing to anti- 
longevity items.  On the 4-point scale, means were virtually equal and  
in the pro-longevity direction for both pro-longevity (M=2.72) and  
anti-longevity (M=2.68) totals.  Neither sex nor education related  
significantly to longevity attitudes.  However, age was substantially  
correlated with pro-longevity attitudes (r=.45, p<.001), with older  
participants having higher pro-longevity scores.  Factor analysis  
demonstrated the existence of three factors: pro-longevity, anti- 
longevity, and economic/societal considerations.


David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

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