The Nation: Who’s Anxious? Who? Who?

Is the U.S. succumbing to angst? Not according to a British psychologist, who asserts, surprisingly, that Americans seem to handle stress and strain reasonably well. In his new book, Personality and National Character, Dr. Richard Lynn points out that, compared with the Japanese, Germans, Austrians and Italians, “Americans don’t commit suicide in any large numbers, nor do they drink very much. I don’t think they’re an especially neurotic group.”

Dr. Lynn based his observations on studies conducted in 18 nations, covering such areas as the suicide rate, alcoholism, vehicle accidents and psychoses. Other populations low on the anxiety scale include Australians, Canadians, the British and—of all peoples—the Irish, whose literature and history are a long testament to the uses of anxiety.