Investigated relationship between age, sex, and subscription to Ellis's irrational beliefs and illness among 122 adults. Found that, for older participants, and more often for women, high need for approval, competency, and achievement; lower need to find perfect solutions; and higher dependency were correlated with more organ systems affected by…

This document presents mortality statistics for 1985 for the entire United States. Data analysis and discussion of these factors is included: death and death rates; death rates by age, sex, and race; expectation of life at birth and at specified ages; causes of death; infant mortality; and maternal mortality. Highlights reported include: (1) the…

Studied fears of older adults. Results indicated that older women expressed greater fearfulness than did older men. Elderly ranked aging and sickness as their foremost fears. Results suggest some fears may change or intensify over the lifespan and that, within each period, females report greater fearfulness than do males. (Author/ABL)

Traditional ideas suggest that emotional weeping is healthy, but empirical support for this position is lacking. This study examined the relationship between crying frequency and reported physical disorders, and changes in crying frequency with age. Subjects were 225 men and 285 women ranging in age from 18-81. Subjects participated in telephone…

The performance on the Draw-A-Face Test of fifty-four 3 1/2- to 12-year-old girls and boys, chronically ill with blood disease, were compared with the performance of 115 healthy girls and boys. While sex and age differences were obtained for both groups, few differences were found between the groups. Results were interpreted in terms of coping…

Examination of hospitalizations for 5,854 elderly adults for 1980, 1985, and 1987 revealed significant increases in 60-day mortality and nursing home transfers after Medicare's Prospective Payment System began and hospital stays were shortened. Increases were largely explained by differences in risk factors other than length of stay (age, gender,…

This document presents data from a variety of secondary sources in an attempt to document that alcohol abuse is a serious problem in North Carolina, resulting in sickness, medical care use, death, and substantial economic costs. The primary source of data presented in this report is the Medical Examiner data system, which contains information for…

This paper reports findings from recent survey research on adolescents' health-related attitudes and practices. The long-term goal of the study was to establish a community database from which to assess the effectiveness of future interventions aimed at altering health beliefs and practices. (Author/DB)

This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted in Claiborne County, in southwest Mississippi. The survey focused on three different areas: (l) demographic data and food practices including food frequency for 1,000 households, (2) dietary intake of individuals for 250 households, and (3) nutritional evaluation by health history, clinical…

Research has shown a generally positive correlation between a person's propensity for illness and certain psychological variables. To investigate the relationship between an individual's age, sex, and degree of subscription to each of Albert Ellis' 10 irrational beliefs and their frequency and type of illness, 122 adults completed the Irrational…