November 21, 2012 at 11:58am 44 notes
animalsscienceaging
Source: Los Angeles Times
New research suggests that humans aren’t the only animals that experience midlife crises; great apes (chimpanzees and orangutans, at least) have them too. That finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could upend firmly held beliefs about the roots of human happiness and the forces that influence its odd trajectory across the life span. If our animal relatives share our propensity for sadness, withdrawal and frustration at life’s midpoint, perhaps the midlife crisis is actually driven by biological factors — not the wearing responsibilities of jobs and family and the dawning recognition of our mortality. “It pushes more toward the possibility that this is biological,” said Arthur Stone, a professor of psychiatry at Stony Brook University in New York who was not involved with the study. Photo: Erin Conway-Smith / Associated Press

New research suggests that humans aren’t the only animals that experience midlife crises; great apes (chimpanzees and orangutans, at least) have them too.

That finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could upend firmly held beliefs about the roots of human happiness and the forces that influence its odd trajectory across the life span. If our animal relatives share our propensity for sadness, withdrawal and frustration at life’s midpoint, perhaps the midlife crisis is actually driven by biological factors — not the wearing responsibilities of jobs and family and the dawning recognition of our mortality.

“It pushes more toward the possibility that this is biological,” said Arthur Stone, a professor of psychiatry at Stony Brook University in New York who was not involved with the study.

Photo: Erin Conway-Smith / Associated Press

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