Citation

Abel EL, Kruger ML. Percept. Mot. Skills 2007; 104(1): 179-182.

Affiliation

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, USA. eabel@wayne.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17450979

Abstract

The longevities of deceased major league baseball players who died prior to 1950 (N=3835) and whose initials formed acronyms, words, or names with "positive" or "negative" affect, as rated a priori by two judges, were compared with those for a group of neutral controls matched for birth year and career length, using the Berkeley standardized mortality tables. Players (n=11) with positive initials, e.g., A.C.E., lived a mean of 13 years longer than players (n=30) with negative initials, e.g., D.E.D., or players with neutral initials (n=864). These results corroborated a previous study and suggest positive name symbols are associated with increased longevity in this sample.

Language: en