The Will-to-Live

Abstract

Interviews with 100 patients dependent on implanted pacemakers for survival provided data on their will-to-live, extent of social participation, and perceptions of health and of locus of control. The sample was mainly male (N = 81), elderly (mean age = 69 years), poor, and of working-class background. Patients expressed a strong will-to-live; perceived their health to be as good as that of their age peers; were neither strongly internal nor external in locus-of-control orientation; and led quite active social lives. Regression analysis indicated that those persons who perceived themselves as healthier, who were married, who believed in internal control, who were currently experiencing fewer symptoms, and who led more active social lives expressed a stronger will-to-live. These five variables accounted for 25% of the variance observed in the will-to-live of these subjects.