Triumphs of Experience

George E. Vaillant

Published by Harvard University Press 2012

Triumphs of Experience

The Men of the Harvard Grant Study

George E. Vaillant

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674067424

Overview
Contents

About this book

At a time when many people around the world are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers some welcome news for the new old age: our lives continue to evolve in our later years, and often become more fulfilling than before.

Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days. The now-classic Adaptation to Life reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation. Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement.

Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), Triumphs of Experience shares a number of surprising findings. For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa. While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.

Author information

George E. Vaillant is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Cast of protagonists (decathlon score) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1 Maturation makes liars of us all Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The proof of the pudding To flourish for the next sixty years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
3 A short history of the grant study Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
4 How childhood and adolescence affect old age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
5 Maturation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
6 Marriage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
7 Living to ninety Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
8 Resilience and unconscious coping Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
9 Alcoholism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
10 Surprising findings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
11 Summing up Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
Appendixes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	437
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	441

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Academics, Students, Libraries, Institutes
Pages
- Main content: 480
Illustrations
- Other: 5 figures

eBook

Published: October 30, 2012
ISBN: 9780674067424