Explaining Premature Mortality Across Fields of Creative Endeavor

It has been established that eminent creative writers tend to die younger than their counterparts in other creative-achievement domains. The present study replicates these findings using a data set of 2102 eminent historical subjects from seven different disciplines, and reviews three extant explanations for this phenomena. Each explanation was tested using an indicator of versatility. None of the life-span hypotheses extended from each explanation to the interaction of achievement domain × versatility was supported. In particular, no models were able to account for the precipitous decrease (2.7 to 8.6 years) in the life spans of versatile scientists when compared to nonversatile scientists. Consequently, a new explanatory model was proposed that draws on psychopathology, vocation choice, and personality characteristics as factors underlying the apparent differences in life span across achievement domains and versatility.     

Acculturation-related variables, sexual initiation, and subsequent sexual behavior among Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cuban youth.

The relationship among acculturation-related variables, past sexual activity, and subsequent sexual behavior was examined for a sample of Latino youth in the United States over a 12-month period. A subsample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health database was analyzed by means of a prospective design. History of sexual intercourse predicted subsequent sexual behavior over the ensuing 12 months. The acculturation-related variables were related to whether an adolescent reported being sexually active at Wave 1 but in a complex fashion. Among recent immigrants, youth from English-speaking homes were less likely to be sexually active than those from Spanish-speaking homes. The opposite was observed for youth who were born in the United States or who had resided in the United States most of their lives.