Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Department of Sociology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2018 Oct 10;73(8):1339-1349. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbx182.
Curvilinear relations between age and wisdom have been found in prior research with its peak either in young adulthood or in midlife. This study tested whether the association between age and three-dimensional wisdom differed for the cognitive, reflective, and compassionate (affective) wisdom dimensions and whether the results varied by education.
OLS regression was used to analyze an online sample of 14,248 adults between the ages of 18 and 98 years (mean [M] = 36.46, standard deviation [SD] = 12.68) from four educational groups.
The relation between age and three-dimensional wisdom was curvilinear and varied in shape by wisdom dimensions and education. The association between age and wisdom followed an inverse U-curve with the peak at midlife and almost opposing shapes for the cognitive and compassionate dimensions and an intermediate shape for the reflective dimension. Education was positively related to wisdom and affected the shape of the relationships.
Because the association between age and wisdom appears to be curvilinear and varies by education, studies that test a linear association without separating the sample by education might arrive at the wrong conclusions. In general, education seems to promote the attainment of wisdom and also inoculate individuals against a decline in wisdom later in life.
先前的研究发现，年龄与智慧之间存在曲线关系，其峰值要么出现在青年期，要么出现在中年期。本研究检验了年龄与认知、反思和同情（情感）智慧维度之间的三维智慧之间的关联是否存在差异，以及结果是否因教育程度而异。
使用 OLS 回归分析了来自四个教育群体的 14248 名年龄在 18 至 98 岁之间的成年人（平均 [M] = 36.46，标准差 [SD] = 12.68）的在线样本。
年龄与三维智慧之间的关系呈曲线关系，其形状因智慧维度和教育程度而异。年龄与智慧之间的关联呈反 U 型曲线，认知和同情维度呈相反形状，反思维度呈中间形状。教育与智慧呈正相关，并且影响关系的形状。
由于年龄与智慧之间的关联似乎呈曲线关系，并且因教育程度而异，因此，如果研究不按教育程度对样本进行分离，测试线性关联可能会得出错误的结论。一般来说，教育似乎促进了智慧的获得，并且还可以防止个体在晚年智慧下降。
