The development of the physicians' end-of-life care attitude scale

The Physicians' End-of-Life Care Attitude Scale (PEAS) was developed as an outcome measure for palliative care education. PEAS assesses the willingness of medical trainees to care for dying patients. Sixty-four Likert-type questions were created on the basis of discussions with focus groups of medical trainees, then administered to sixty-two medical students and residents. Total PEAS scores as well as personal preparation and professional role subscales (where higher scores indicated greater concern) possessed excellent internal consistency and reliability. In addition, there were substantial correlations between PEAS scores and the CA-Dying scale, a measurement of laypersons' fears about interacting with dying persons. Thus, PEAS adequately assesses the unique communication concerns of physicians in training regarding working with dying persons and their families. Correlations between PEAS scores and age were negative, while those who had experienced the death of a loved one had higher PEAS scores than those who did not. This suggests that for some persons, life experiences may lessen difficulties in dealing with dying persons, while for others, personal losses may exacerbate such concerns. The utility of PEAS in evaluating the efficacy of palliative care education as well as its potential to measure medical trainee's willingness to care for the terminally ill is discussed.

The contribution of small life events to the psychological distress of married and widowed older women

The contribution of small life events to the prediction of general psychological distress was examined for 50 married and 21 recently widowed older women. These two groups were contrasted as having or not having experienced an uncontrollable major life stressor (i.e., the recent death of a spouse). Negative small life events (i.e., daily hassles) contributed above and beyond general demographic factors; conjugal bereavement status; social support; other, non-conjugal bereavement, major life events; and the interaction of these life events and social support in the prediction of general psychological distress. Results support assessing negative small life events as well as major life events for both married and recently widowed older women.

Custodial grandparenting: stresses, coping skills, and relationships with grandchildren

This cross-sectional study compared three groups of custodial grandparents, those raising problematic grandchildren, those raising "normal" grandchildren, and noncustodial grandparents to identify the unique challenges and expectations faced by custodial grandparents due to their nontraditional roles while attempting to disentangle grandparental role demands from child-specific problems as sources of distress. Those grandparents raising grandchildren demonstrating neurological, physical, emotional, or behavioral problems exhibited the most distress, the most disruption of roles, and the most deteriorated grandparent-grandchild relationships. Although custodial grandparents raising apparently normal grandchildren demonstrated less distress, less disruption of roles, and less deterioration of the grandparent-grandchild relationship than those grandparents raising grandchildren displaying problems, in these respects, they still demonstrated higher such levels than did traditional grandparents.

Assessing anxiety about retirement: the case of academicians

One hundred and forty-four individuals, ninety-two of whom were active university faculty and fifty-two of whom were retired, completed a measure of anxiety about retirement as well as a battery of self-report scales assessing a number of personality, job-related, and retirement-specific constructs. Results suggested that the newly developed measure of retirement anxiety possessed high internal consistency as well as both discriminant and construct validity. Moreover, it is multidimensional in nature, and distinct in content from previous scales assessing anxiety about retirement. Its use for persons anticipating retirement is discussed in the context of the benefits of a proactive stance toward retirement preparation.

Locus of control perceptions among conjugally bereaved older adults: a pilot study

While Locus of Control is typically operationalized as a single dispositional trait that generalizes across settings, it has also been conceptualized as two weakly related factors; Domain-Specific State Locus of Control and a generalized Trait Locus of Control. Malleability of these two factors was tested for recently widowed older adults in self-help support groups (n = 17) and a waiting-list control condition (n = 6). Domain-Specific State Locus of Control-Desire for Control subscale increased over the course of the three-week six-session intervention for support group participants. These group participants also showed decreased psychological distress from pre to post intervention. The change in Domain-Specific State Locus of Control-Desire for Control did not relate to this reduction in distress. As expected, Trait Locus of Control remained stable with greater Trait Internality related to less psychological symptomatology.

Gains in fluid ability performance and their relationship to cortisol

The present analyses examined the relationship between cortisol and performance gains in crystallized (Gc) and fluid (Gf) ability, as well as the relationship to measures of everyday cognitive functioning in a sample of 73 older adults. The analyses were part of a larger study examining the impact of anxiety-reduction training on everyday tasks. Cortisol was assessed via urine sampling. Results indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between cortisol and performance gains for Gf, replicating earlier findings reported by our laboratory. These findings also extend the relationship to cortisol measured in urine; previous analyses were conducted using serum-based cortisol. Cortisol was also significantly related to performance gains in some measures of everyday cognitive functioning.

Young and middle-aged adults' perceptions of elder abuse

Middle-aged and young adults (ns = 201 and 422, respectively) completed an adaptation of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale and the Elder Abuse Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Scale--Revised to examine the impact of (a) respondent age, (b) age and gender of perpetrator and victim, and (c) history of experienced violence on perceptions of elder abuse. Results suggested that middle-aged respondents viewed psychological behaviors more harshly than did younger respondents and that both middle-aged women and young men were less tolerant of middle-aged perpetrators. Although history of participatory violence toward older persons was predictive of perceptions of elder abuse as it interacted with respondent age, history of experienced abuse was not predictive. These data support a view of elder abuse that emphasizes its relativistic nature, wherein perceptions of elder abuse depend on both the characteristics of the perceiver and the victim and perpetrator variables.

Comparisons of urinary versus serum cortisol in older persons

The present analysis compared urine- versus serum-based amounts of the stress hormone cortisol in two older adult samples, given that urine as a sample medium is a less expensive and less invasive method of determining cortisol amounts relative to serum. Seventy-three older adults provided urine samples as part of an ongoing study to assess levels of cortisol as a function of intellectual efficacy/performance; these data were compared to serum cortisol levels obtained from 96 older adults in a separate study examining health beliefs and cortisol levels. Analyses indicated that the cortisol levels did not differ across samples, i.e., cortisol amounts measured in serum or urine yielded similar, typical (within normal ranges) results. The data, though preliminary, indicate that urine may provide an alternative to serum when assessing cortisol in older persons.

The relationship of cortisol to practice-related gains in intelligence among older persons

Based on data collected from two separate samples of older adults, the present study explored the role of cortisol in mediating practice-related gains in fluid intelligence (Gf) among older adults. Analyses across samples involved treatment group participants who received stress inoculation training in order to reduce anxiety concerning intellectual performance; waiting list control group participants did not receive training until the experiment(s) were completed. Practice effects were examined for both groups. In Study 1, the sample consisted of a heterogeneous (re: concerns about intellectual performance) group of older adults, and Study 2 participants were older adults who self-reported as being at least moderately anxious or concerned about intellectual performance declines. The two samples differed on health (p < .01), with Study 2 participants being healthier (as determined via self-report). Results indicated that practice, but not training, effects were evident for measures of crystallized ability (Gc) and Gf across both studies. The data also suggested that cortisol mediation was different for the two samples in that it was negatively correlated with Gf in the first sample, and, though not significant, positively correlated with Gf in the second. The same directional relationships were evident for the measure of Gc. Comparisons between studies regarding correlations between cortisol and practice-related gains in performance were significant for Gf (p < .01) and approached significance for Gc (p < .07). These data seem to suggest that for some older persons, higher levels of cortisol interfere with the effects of practice on Gf performance, while for others, higher cortisol facilitates such gains in performance.

Custodial grandparenting and the impact of grandchildren with problems on role satisfaction and role meaning

This study compared three groups of grandparents, attempting to disentangle grandparental role demands from child-specific problems as sources of role-specific and grandchild-relationship distress. Those grandparents raising grandchildren reported to demonstrate neurological, physical, emotional, or behavioral problems exhibited the most personal distress, the least role satisfaction and role meaning, and the most deteriorated grandparent-grandchild relationships. Custodial grandparents raising grandchildren reported to have few difficulties also differed in the ways listed above from those grandparents not raising their grandchildren and from those raising grandchildren displaying problems. For men, but not women, more positive grandparent meaning was associated with raising a grandchild. Significantly, custodial grandparents were more likely to be raising boys, suggesting that boys may be either more difficult for grandparents to raise or that boys react more negatively to the adverse circumstances under which grandparents assume care.

Body image in adulthood: a projective approach

A sample of 210 persons varying by age (young adults, middle-aged, older adults), gender, and relationship status (single or involved) were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) and Geriatric Draw-A-Person (G-DAP) to ascertain projectively assessed aspects of body image in adulthood. Results suggested that both the HIT and G-DAP were sensitive to the effects of age and gender, wherein young adults scored higher on both HIT Barrier and Penetration than both middle-aged or older adults. In addition, G-DAP scores favored young adults. HIT Penetration scores varied by both age and relationship status.

Psychoneuroendocrinological indicators of stress and intellectual performance among older adults: an exploratory study

For an exploration of the relationship between task-specific anxiety and intellectual performance, 26 community-dwelling older adults were asked to perform a series of cognitive tasks to assess crystallized (Gc) and fluid (Gf) intellectual abilities. The volunteers then completed questionnaires concerning their beliefs about their task performance specific to each ability, as well as measures of both generalized and intellectual self-efficacy, everyday cognitive failures, and trait and state anxiety. Cortisol levels were assessed as a physiologic indicator of task anxiety, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) levels were measured to reflect nonspecific physiological changes. With trait anxiety taken into consideration, significant negative correlations were seen between cortisol levels and performance on all tasks measuring primarily fluid abilities, as well as between cortisol levels and self-efficacy concerning tasks measuring primarily crystallized abilities. EBV levels were not correlated with any of the task-specific measures, except for Letter Sets performance. These preliminary findings confirm that older persons' concerns about their task performance are indeed stressful when measured physiologically, apart from indicators of self-reported stress.

Custodial grandparenting: new roles for middle-aged and older adults

An overview of grandparenting in light of changing demographics, family composition, and intergenerational dynamics is presented, as well as a review of custodial grandparenting which is impacted not only by these changes, but also by factors unique to this role. Research to date suggests that the demands of custodial grandparenting may be harmful to the psychosocial adjustment of those raising grandchildren and that such persons may be particularly in need of mental health services, especially if they are caring for problem grandchildren. However, such work also suggests that there are nevertheless many strengths and rewards associated with raising a grandchild later in life. The implications of these stressful demands on middle-aged and older persons' adjustment and life satisfaction are discussed, as are methodological issues in such research as well as future directions work in this area might take.

Employee age and perceptions of work in self-managing and traditional work groups

Self-managing work groups are a form of work design in which employees take responsibility for the group's tasks and have discretion over decisions which impact group performance. To explore the impact of age and work teams on job attitudes, data from 477 employees suggested that self-managed work group members differed from traditional job holders regarding perceived general job satisfaction, perceived control by supervisors, as well as a number of specific dimensions of the work environment. Moreover, while there was evidence of an age effect on attitudes toward supervisory control, there was no joint effect of age by work design on job attitudes, i.e., one's perceived general job satisfaction. Older employees who were members of self-managed work groups were however, more impacted by this form of work design in reporting more positive perceptions of their access to information essential to the performance of their work. These findings suggest that an "older" work force should not be considered a barrier to implementing a work teams approach to job design.

Relationships among death anxiety, communication apprehension with the dying, and empathy in those seeking occupations as nurses and physicians

In light of the modern phenomenon of increased institutionalized deaths occurring in hospitals and in nursing homes, much of recent death attitude research has focused on health professionals. The present study explored possible relationships among measures of death anxiety, communication apprehension with the dying, and empathy in undergraduate nursing, premedical, and control subjects. Main effects for year in school indicated that seniors scored lower than freshmen on communication apprehension with the dying. The multivariate effects for field of study were also significant, with univariate results indicating that nursing students scored lower than controls on communication apprehension with the dying.

Long-term efficacy of fluid ability interventions with older adults

Three-year follow-up data were gathered from 108 elderly persons to investigate the long-term efficacy of fluid ability (Gf) interventions with the aged. Results suggested that the effects of reminding older persons to use previously acquired training strategies facilitated 3-year Letter Series performance, particularly so for stress inoculation participants. No reminder effects were observed for Letter Sets scores. While 3-year declines in Letter Sets performance were observed for all persons, losses in Letter Sets performance were minimized to a greater extent for stress inoculation group participants than for those in both the induction training and control conditions. These data collectively underscore the interaction between qualitatively different types of Gf interventions and the ongoing use of previously acquired training strategies as factors in the maintenance of Gf training effects in older persons.

Irrational beliefs and depressive symptoms among younger and older adults: a cross-sectional comparison

The present study explored age differences in the expression of depression. Such differences were quite apparent. Among 118 young adults and 107 community-residing elderly individuals, it was found that in the young adult groups, cognitive belief factors labeled "externality/control" and "dependency/emotionality" were associated with both affective and cognitive aspects of depression, but not somatic depressive symptoms over and above the influence of sociodemographic factors. In contrast, among older adults, a cognitive belief factor labeled "cognitive-emotional rigidity/dependency" was uniquely associated with both affective and somatic depressive symptoms. Additionally, a second cognitive factor, labeled "adaptation/internal control" defined in terms of the absence of irrational thinking about adaptation and control, was negatively related to somatic depressive symptoms. For each sample, poorer health was associated with greater depressive symptomatology. While these findings generally tend to support a cognitive view of depression in adulthood, they also underscore the importance of cognitions that may be adaptive which mitigate distress among older persons.

Socio-cognitive skills as a determinant of life satisfaction in aged persons

The purpose of this study was to explore the viability of a revised model of elderly life satisfaction, specifically evaluating the contribution of socio-cognitive skills. The role of such skills in relation to life satisfaction among aged persons has not been explored in research to date. Pilot data gathered from 60 community-living aged individuals indicated that numerous variables (e.g., subjective/objective health, education, financial satisfaction, role participation, subjective integration) significantly correlated with life satisfaction. However, the combined effects of two variables, persons' feelings of loneliness and isolation from their families and a measure of socio-cognitive skill, accounted for 49 percent of the variability in elderly life satisfaction. The effects of each on life satisfaction were unique however. Implications of these data and possible interventions for increasing elderly persons' life satisfaction are discussed.

Color vision deficits and Rorschach performance in aged persons

Forty-two community residing older adults (M age = 69.28) (32 color normal, 10 color deficient) were administered the Rorschach and measures of both verbal and nonverbal intelligence in order to explore the effect of color vision deficiencies on affective responsivity. Among the sample of older persons screened for both visual and auditory acuity, when controls for intelligence and numbers of responses were made, greater affective constriction was found in the protocols of color vision deficient persons, relative to color normal individuals. These data suggest that Rorschach indicators of affective constriction may be biased in the case of individuals who have experienced color vision decrements. Consequently, first screening for color vision decrements when assessing older persons' personality dynamics may be desirable.

Hopelessness in community-residing aged persons: a viable construct?

Previous work with the Geriatric Hopelessness Scale (GHS; Fry, 1984, 1986) suggests that it may be a useful measure of pessimism for a variety of domains among elderly persons. One hundred seven community-residing aged persons were individually administered the GHS and a variety of personality and cognitive functioning measures in an effort to further refine and validate the GHS. Results suggest very modest internal consistency and a poorly defined factor structure for the GHS, in contrast to earlier findings. Although the GHS failed to differentiate elderly persons by age, it was nonetheless related to self-esteem, depression, self-rated health, internality, morale, and life satisfaction. Taken together, these data indicate that the research and clinical utility of the GHS with community-residing aged persons may be more limited than previously believed.

The viability of an abbreviated version of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique with older adults

Multiple regression analyses of Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT; Holtzman, Thorpe, Swartz, & Herron, 1961) factor scores were conducted to empirically determine the viability of a short form of the HIT with older adults. Although R2 values were acceptable, the contribution of individual cards to total factor scores was dubious at best. These data suggest that the development of a short form of the HIT for use with older adults is premature and requires more systematic research to justify its viability.

Toward the equivalence of the HIT and HIT 25 in community-residing older adults

In a study by the first author wherein 102 community-residing older adults were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT), data collected were analyzed regarding the equivalence of the HIT and the HIT 25. Although alpha coefficients and split-half correlations were low when single-response-per-card data were analyzed, corrected Spearman-Brown coefficients were more supportive of the use of the HIT 25 with older adults. These data suggest that although a shortened form of the HIT may be useful with aged persons, research exploring the substantive bases for creating a shortened version of the HIT is nevertheless necessary.

Fatigue, depression, and cognitive performance among aged persons

Previous research by the authors has suggested that older persons who are depressed may be especially susceptible to the effects of fatigue in situations where multiple skills are assessed. The impact of fatigue and the effects of depression on cognitive performance have long been recognized as impediments to the accurate assessment of competence in the aged. To investigate such influences, data were gathered from 72 aged persons who had been screened for depression and assigned to one of three conditions varying in effort and the fatigue-inducing nature of the tasks to be solved. Results suggested depressed persons were more prone to fatigue. For measures of both active and passive short-term memory, depression and task effort impacted on performance. Such effects were considerably weaker for measures of intelligence.

Cohort differences in Hand Test performance: a time lagged analysis

In order to examine the impact of cultural differences (cohort and/or time of measurement) on the intrapsychic processes of older adults, two samples (1976, n = 102; 1986, n = 88) of older persons were compared with regard to their Hand Test (HT; Bricklin, Piotrowski, & Wagner, 1962; Wagner, 1983) performance. Relative to those studies investigating cultural effects in personality at the socioadaptational level (Neugarten, 1977), no research to date has examined this issue utilizing projective methods of assessment. Time-lagged analyses of HT scores of these two samples of elderly adults suggested that there appear to be clear age-related variance in HT performance for both content and derived HT variables. Age-related within-sample variability for most HT scores supported this interpretation. These findings are in contrast to those utilizing more standardized, nomothetic measures of personality functioning that suggest stability of personality in adulthood.

The Kendrick Battery: sensitivity to survival effects

In an effort to establish the sensitivity of the Kendrick Battery (KB) to mortality effects among institutionalized aged, the residualized pre-death KB scores (Digit Copying, Object Learning Subtests), as well as measures of affect (Zung Depression), and organicity (Luria Pathognomic Scale, Orientation Test) were compared in a sample of fifty-three elderly persons (M age = 82.7, SD = 7.76). Forty-two were female, eleven were male. Twenty-two of these individuals had subsequently died during an eighteen-month period following assessment. Six years after testing, thirty-six of these individuals had died. Step-wise discriminant analyses at each occasion yielded functions defined by the KB subtests, measures of organicity and depression, age of institutionalization, sex, and length of institutionalization that differentiated survivors and nonsurvivors. These data suggested that the Kendrick Battery subtests, measures of depression and organicity, in combination with length of institutionalization and age of admittance predict death among the elderly, for the most part, replicating previous research.

Older women's perceptions of female counselors: the influence of therapist age and problem intimacy

Elderly women (N = 96, Mn age = 69.6) who served as pseudoclients in an analogue study were more positive toward all counselors when vignettes dealt with less intimate rather than more intimate problems. Older counselors were preferred when less intimate concerns were discussed whereas younger counselors were preferred for more intimate problems. Perceived differences in helper expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness were also influenced by perceptions of the individuality of counselors. These findings have significance for the delivery of mental health services to older persons.

Alternative mechanisms for improvements in fluid ability performance among older adults

To cross-validate and extend previous work regarding fluid ability training, I randomly assigned 256 community-living older participants to either induction training, stress inoculation training, or nocontact control groups. Practice effects were common to almost all of the ability measures, whereas training effects were specific to measures of inductive reasoning. Both training groups demonstrated greater immediate posttest gains in Letter Sets performance relative to control groups, which were maintained to the greatest extent one month later for the induction training group. The control and stress inoculation groups experienced slight declines one month later, although performance differences still favored the later. For Letter Series, one week follow-up findings favored both induction and stress inoculation conditions, whereas only the stress inoculation group demonstrated gains at one month follow-up. No differential pattern of training transfer to other components of Gf-Gc was observed. These data suggest alternative means by which the facilitation of intellectual competence in older adults may be accomplished.

Alternative mechanisms for improvements in fluid ability performance among older adults

To cross-validate and extend previous work regarding fluid ability training, I randomly assigned 256 community-living older participants to either induction training, stress inoculation training, or nocontact control groups. Practice effects were common to almost all of the ability measures, whereas training effects were specific to measures of inductive reasoning. Both training groups demonstrated greater immediate posttest gains in Letter Sets performance relative to control groups, which were maintained to the greatest extent one month later for the induction training group. The control and stress inoculation groups experienced slight declines one month later, although performance differences still favored the later. For Letter Series, one week follow-up findings favored both induction and stress inoculation conditions, whereas only the stress inoculation group demonstrated gains at one month follow-up. No differential pattern of training transfer to other components of Gf-Gc was observed. These data suggest alternative means by which the facilitation of intellectual competence in older adults may be accomplished.

Personality-ability relationships in aged adults

In an effort to investigate personality-ability interrelationships in older persons, 102 community-residing elderly persons were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) and measures of both crystallized (Gc) and fluid (Gf) intelligence. Results suggested that each ability factor loaded on separate personality dimensions established in a previous analysis of HIT data using this sample. Whereas the personality factors labeled Anxiety Over Ideational Sufficiency and Feelings About Bodily Integrity loaded on Gc, factors termed Use of Cognitive Resources to Deal With Reality and Organizational Ability/Intellectual Functioning loaded on Gf. Causal inferences are difficult to make. However, these data suggest that individual differences in the maintenance of higher levels of intellectual functioning in later adulthood might be motivated by ego defensive mechanisms that act to insulate the older individual from feelings of self-worthlessness and failure and/or a loss of control over external forces via the development of intellectual skills.

Locus of control and retirement preparation

Locus of desired control and participation in a retirement preparation program were investigated in relation to retirement attitudes and adjustment. Fifty-nine older workers and retirees, approximately half of whom had participated in a retirement preparation program, completed measures assessing locus of control, attitudes toward work and retirement, life satisfaction and self-esteem. Retirement preparation was found to maintain both the desirability and expectancy of internal control and positive retirement attitudes among the worker participants relative to controls. Retirees did not differ on measures of adjustment; those with retirement preparation, however, evidenced higher externality than those without. Although the results indicated that internal expectancies were associated with positive psychological functioning, the role of retirement preparation in maintaining such expectancies into retirement remained equivocal.

Construct validity of the Kendrick Battery with institutionalized aged

In this study, we attempted to explore the construct validity of the Kendrick Battery by using an American sample and psychometric tests as indexes of diffuse organicity, depression, and normality. Institutionalized residents (N = 53) were tested twice (6-week interval). When organicity was defined by disorientation and memory deficits, then both the Object Learning test and the Digit Copying test were accurate in differentiating preestablished criterion groups. When organicity was defined more broadly, including sensorimotor function, the Digit Copying test alone was more accurate when depression was defined in terms of irritability, restlessness, and despair. These data suggest that although the Kendrick scales appeared to be sensitive to organicity and depression in this sample, their validity varied with the criteria for each when such were defined psychometrically.

Relationships among abilities in elderly adults: a time lag analysis

Previous research has suggested that relationships among primary abilities said to measure crystallized (Gc) and fluid (Gf) intelligences remain the same across cohorts if age is held constant, despite generational changes in the levels of abilities. The present study assessed differences in relationship among several components of Gf/Gc in two independent samples of elderly adults, tested in 1975 and 1979 by the same investigator. The 1975 sample consisted of 54 elderly adults aged 59 to 76 years (M = 67.7); the 1979 sample of 50 elderly adults was aged 55 to 82 (M = 69.4). Time-lagged differences in relationships among abilities measuring Gf and Gc (induction, figural relations, and verbal comprehension) were investigated using confirmatory factor analytic procedures. Although a two factor (Gf, Gc) model was common to both the 1975 and 1979 samples, significant differences in unique variances were observed across samples. Some, albeit weaker, evidence was found suggesting time-lagged differences in factor covariances. These data, for the most part, support previous research with younger individuals, suggesting consistency in factor structure across time and cohort.

Depression and helplessness-induced cognitive deficits in the aged

Sixty-six community-residing elderly (mean age = 72.5) were categorized as depressed (mean = 11.3) or nondepressed (mean = 3.9) based on Beck Depression Inventory scores. After a pre-test battery measuring short-term memory and crystallized/fluid intelligence, the subjects responded to a word association task, disguised as a test of interpersonal empathy, under response dependent or response independent reinforcement conditions, or were assigned to a no treatment control. A post-test battery of alternate forms followed. Four of seven measures showed significant pre- to post-test declines in performance. For two of these four, response dependent reinforcement prevented otherwise significant declines. With pre-test differences statistically controlled, depression produced significant post-test deficits in three measures. Response dependent reinforcement eliminated this depression deficit in one measure. The results indicate that depression may exacerbate fatigue effects for the elderly and response dependent reinforcement may prevent fatigue-caused deficits in short-term memory.

Idiographic assessment of the self in the aged: a case for the use of the Q-sort

Literature bearing on the use of the Q-sort in gerontological research is discussed. It is argued that the measurement of self-concept and the design of outcome measures with elderly clients should be rooted in a perspective emphasizing multiple, interactive determinants of life-span development; increases in intraindividual variability/interindividual differences with age; ecological validity; and a growing concern for the practical utility and acceptability of nontraditional counseling and psychotherapy and the aged. Suggestions for the development and use of the Q-sort in evaluating intervention-oriented efforts from within such a perspective on the self in old age and on outcome research with elderly clients are offered.

Physical self-maintenance, mental status, and personality in institutionalized elderly adults

Administered the projective Hand Test (HT) to 52 institutionalized elderly adults in order to establish its validity in measuring individual differences in relationships between mental status and physical self-maintenance ability. Results suggested substantial covariance among level of self-care, organic dysfunction, and personality, independent of length of institutionalization. Implications of these data for the functional assessment of institutionalized older adults are discussed.

Construct validation of the Hand Test with the aged: replication and extension

The Hand Test (HT) was administered to 52 institutionalized elderly adults in an effort to cross-validate previous research dealing with the construct validity of the Hand Test in assessing organic dysfunction as assessed by Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ) scores. Results suggested that, consistent with previous research, HT scores of Withdrawal and Pathology seem to be valid indicators of cognitive loss, independent of age and length of institutionalization, among elderly persons who reside in long term care facilities. Implications of these data for the care of impaired elderly persons by family and staff are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.

The Holtzman Inkblot Technique and aging: norms and factor structure

The Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) was individually administered to 102 elderly community-living adults, aged 59-94. The purpose of the present study was to gather basic normative data for a sample of noninstitutionalized elderly persons, as well as to investigate the factorial composition of the HIT for the present cohort of elderly. Substantial variation across persons was noted for 18 of 22 HIT variables, and a principal axis solution (varimax rotation) yielded 7 identifiable factors, similar in some respects to those identified in previous analyses of the HIT with other age cohorts. Substantial within-cohort variation for several HIT scores was found across age and sex, but not for level of education. The implications of these data for the projective assessment of personality in elderly persons was discussed, and directions for future research were recommended.

Verbosity and projective test performance in the aged

Using normative data collected by Hayslip (1980) where form A of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) was administered to 102 elderly adults, aged 59-94, correlational and factor analyses were carried out in order to investigate the extent to which response length (RL), as previously identified in HIT research with younger age samples, influences HIT scores. RL correlated significantly with HIT scores for 14 of 22 variables and loaded on two factors: A bodily integrity/vulnerability factor, and a cognitive problem-solving factor. While no differences in RL across sex and level of education were obtained, within-sample age effects (in favor of the younger) for RL were found. Implications of these data for the projective assessment of older persons were discussed.

Construct validation of the Hand Test Withdrawal score on institutionalized older adults

The Hand Test Withdrawal score was correlated with an independent criterion measure of general intactness, the Mental Status Questionnaire, for a sample of 57 "normal," institutionalized, elderly (M age = 77.26 yr.) to establish the construct validity of the Withdrawal score for older adults. A Pearson r of .43 (p < .001) was obtained, suggesting that the Withdrawal score is a valid measure of mental status or general intactness for institutionalized older adults.

Relationships between intelligence and concept identification in adulthood as a function of stage of learning

Three groups (n = 54) of participants aged 17-26, 39-51 and 59-76 were asked to solve two types of concept problems to investigate the intellectual correlates of concept identification as a function of stage of learning in adulthood. Predictions derived from the Gf-Gc theory of Horn and Cattell were partially supported in each age group. Differential ability-performance relations as a function of stage of learning were considerably less potent in the elderly versus the young and middle aged. Comparisons both within and between age groups suggested that a dynamic picture of interactions among organismic and task-related variables is preferable, reflecting structural changes in such relationships with practice and cohort membership.

Age differences in relationships between crystallized and fluid intelligences and problem solving

One hundred and sixty-two subjects at three age levels were tested to examine the relationship between crystallized (Gc) and fluid (Gf) abilities and three problem solving tasks varying in the abstractness concreteness of their stimuli and emphasis on past experience. It was predicted that the difference in correlations between crystallized and fluid abilities and each of these tasks would increase with increased age. The hypotheses were partially supported in the young and elderly groups of subjects. On tasks using concrete stimuli, emphasizing past experience, where no cross-sectional decline was observed, Gc (relative to Gf) accounted for an increasing proportion of variance in performance with increased age. On tasks using abstract stimuli, de-emphasizing past experience, where significant cross-sectional declines were obtained, Gf (relative to Gc) correlated more highly with performance. Contrary to previous research, relationships between Gf and Bc supported a reintegration of abilities in old age.

Determinants of anagram problem solution in adulthood

An evaluation of the indices proposed in the literature regarding measures of anagram difficulty was made by asking three groups (ages 17-26, 39-51, 59-76) of adults (n = 54) to solve a list of 30 anagrams. Results indicated that only two of these indices (Thorndike-Lorge and Bigram Rank measures) significantly predicted frequency of solution in samples beyong college age. It was also found that the cognitive variable mediating the effects of these indices in middle aged and elderly subjects was crystallized ability, suggesting an experiential basis for the effects of both task and organismic variables as determinants of anagram problem solving in adulthood. The role of fluid ability as a mediator of problem solution in the young received limited support.