Social crisis and individual growth: The long-term effects of the Great Depression

This longitudinal study examines the effects of the Great Depression on the social and psychological development of 81 white women and 39 white men from Berkeley, California, born around the turn of the century. Analyses showed that respondents who were classified as relatively wise in old age (in 1968/69) were as likely to experience economic hardship during the Great Depression as those considered low on wisdom in their later years. However, wise older men and women who suffered from economic deprivation during the Depression years became on average psychologically more healthy between 1930 and 1944. By contrast, psychological health scores of elders with relatively low wisdom scores who went through similar Depression hardship experiences tended to decline during the same time period. Since wisdom and psychological health are empirically and theoretically related, these results add support to the claim that wisdom may be acquired through the successful resolution of crises and hardship.