Velocity discrimination: reliability and construct validity in older adults

The aim of this study was to determine whether a test of velocity discrimination is a reliable and valid measure of proprioception in healthy older adults. Results revealed excellent test-retest reliability over a 2-week period. Velocity discrimination also indicated good construct validity with modest correlations with center of pressure sway outcomes in eyes open and closed conditions as well as stair climbing time. Good construct validity was identified by velocity discrimination sensitivity to age with a higher mean value for the older participants than for the younger participants. These findings suggest velocity discrimination is a valid and reliable measure of velocity sense, which may be included with measures of position and movement sense to enhance the proprioceptive testing repertoire among researchers. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of evaluation of proprioceptive training programs aimed to enhance postural control.     

The apprehensive respondent: failing to rate future life satisfaction in older adults.

Rating scales relating to the individual's past, present, and future were administered to subjects aged 60 to 90; those who completed all ratings (N = 589) were compared with others who specifically failed to rate the future (N = 150). The groups were differentiated by age, gender, health, and marital status. Total subjective well-being did not differ, but specific subjective well-being factors concerning time and aging could serve as discriminators. These differences suggest that these older adults might be apprehensive about their future, and that skipping future-related questions is a genuine reaction with both psychological and methodological implications.     

Use of self-reports of physical fitness as substitutes for performance-based measures of physical fitness in older adults

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between self-reported physical fitness and performance-based measures of physical fitness in older adults. The specific components of physical fitness evaluated included aerobic endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility. Adults (25 men and 47 women) ranging in age from 56 to 92 years (M age=75 yr.) were recruited from the local community. Generally, the associations between self-reported and performance-based measures of physical fitness were low to moderate (r = 30-.01). Based on these findings, self-reports of physical fitness should not be used as substitutes for performance-based measures of physical fitness in older adults. Furthermore, present findings suggest that older adults, when asked to rate subcomponents of physical fitness, may not do so but rather evaluate a more general concept of physical fitness with aerobic endurance as the dominant factor.     

Personal investment predictors of life satisfaction among physically active middle-aged and older adults

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the social psychological components of personal investment and life satisfaction among 85 middle-aged and older men and women participating in a structured exercise program. Specifically, we examined the degree to which personal incentives for exercise, perceptions of a sense of self, and the congruency between the exercise program and the participants' goals, predicted life satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the social psychological variables reflecting personal investment accounted for 52% of the variance for life satisfaction in physically active middle-aged and older adults. The personal investment theory is supported as a framework for investigating psycho-social predictors of situational outcomes such as life satisfaction.     

Consensual validity parameters of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire: evidence from self-reports and spouse reports

One way of validating questionnaire responses is correlating them with ratings made by external assessors who know the ratee well: This is known as consensual validity. In this study, we assessed the consensual validity of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ; Zuckerman, 2002; Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, & Kraft, 1993). A multitrait-multimethod matrix of self-reported and spouse reported personality ratings was used to establish convergent and discriminant validity by means of Campbell and Fiske's (1959) evaluative criteria. Self-reports of 86 men and 85 women were correlated with their spouses' reports. Intraclass correlations ranged from .47 to .63 for the 5 dimensions, providing strong evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. The results obtained favor the use of the ZKPQ as a valid self-report measure of personality traits.     

On the invalidity of validity scales: evidence from self-reports and observer ratings in volunteer samples

Because of the potential for bias and error in questionnaire responding, many personality inventories include validity scales intended to correct biased scores or identify invalid protocols. The authors evaluated the utility of several types of validity scales in a volunteer sample of 72 men and 106 women who completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, 1978/1982) and were rated by 2 acquaintances on the observer form of the NEO-PI-R. Analyses indicated that the validity indexes lacked utility in this sample. A partial replication (N = 1,728) also failed to find consistent support for the use of validity scales. The authors illustrate the use of informant ratings in assessing protocol validity and argue that psychological assessors should limit their use of validity scales and seek instead to improve the quality of personality assessments.     

The experimental effects of "autonomy" on performance and self-reports of satisfaction

Though the job characteristics model proposed by Hackman and his associates has provided the impetus for a large number of correlational studies, few of any studies have involved the systematic manipulation of one or more of the five-core dimensions (job properties) while noting the performance outcomes. In this study, the autonomy dimension was experimentally varied (four levels) in a laboratory setting. Four groups of undergraduate students performed a job comprised of three tasks under varying degrees of autonomy while measures of performance, "perceptions" of task properties, and other self-reports were obtained. It was found, contrary to our hypothesis, that variations in autonomy produced a negative effect on quantity of performance and no effect on quality of performance, though subjects in the more autonomous conditions reported a higher level of autonomy. Reservations regarding the strategy of drawing causal inferences from correlational analyses are discussed.     

Neuroticism versus demographic variables as correlates of self-reported life satisfaction in a sample of older adults

The Life Satisfaction Index A, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Profile of Mood States were administered to 120 retired Californians whose mean age was 73 yr. Demographic data were also collected. Life satisfaction scores were greater among those respondents with low self-rated anxiety, high religious commitment, higher socio-economic status, and in good health. Trait anxiety alone accounted for approximately 39% of the total variance in self-reported life satisfaction, although further significant contributions were made by state anxiety and religious commitment. It is argued that self-ratings of life satisfaction among older adults are primarily expressions of stable personality attributes, and that further studies of this type should employ standard measures used in describing adjustment in the general population.     

Judgments of blame and forgiveness: A comparison of young adults,older adults,and older adults with dementia

IntroductionAlzheimer's disease may modify moral judgment.ObjectiveIn two studies, we assessed the impact of dementia on blame and forgiveness. Study 1 compared the ways in which young adults, older adults, and older adults with dementia cognitively integrated two factors. Study 2 assessed the number of different factors that older adults with dementia were able to integrate during these moral judgments.MethodThe participants recorded their moral judgements in a blame task and in a forgiveness task. In study 1, the two questionnaires contained scenarios built from the combination of two factors. In study 2, the participants were confronted with the same tasks under three different conditions with scenarios that combined three, four or five factors.ResultsThe data from study 1 showed that the older adults with dementia did not combine the two factors in the same way as young adults did: the combination depended on the type of moral judgment. Study 2 revealed differences in moral judgment between older adults with dementia and adults without dementia in all tasks (i.e. with three, four or five factors combined).ConclusionDementia has an impact on moral judgments. Moral judgment among people with dementia is both task- and condition-dependant.     

The evaluation of truthfulness in alleged sex offenders' self-reports: 16PF and MMPI validity scales.

The evaluation of response bias (i.e., minimization or exaggeration) is central to forensic psychological evaluations. Yet few studies have assessed forensic samples to investigate the ability of psychological tests to detect response bias. We studied the relationship between the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) validity scales for 65 alleged sex offenders and assessed the effects of different cutoff scores for the 16PF validity scales. Results indicate consistent significant correlations between the validity scales of the 16PF and the MMPI for measures of minimization and exaggeration. use of a priori cutoff scores resulted in the classification of our sample in proportions parallel to those found in previous research for the 16PF Fake-Good scale but not the Fake-Bad scale. Our results indicate that 16PF validity scales are useful, but interpretations must take into account different base rates of response bias between sex offenders and the general population.     

Counselling older adults: Issues and awareness

This paper explores understanding and awareness among counsellors and counselling psychologists, of work with older people. The result of a piece of reasarch on this topic are presented. These tentatively confirm a relative lack of interest and insight into work with this age group and indicate that an age bias may exist among therapists. The reasons for this lack of awareness are explored and it is suggested that issue of the therapists' countertransference is crucial and that work with older persons may raise complex emotional issues for the counsellor. Possible future directions for research are discussed.     

Elderspeak: Speech accommodations to older adults

Ten service providers and 10 caregivers were recorded as they spoke to groups of younger or older adults. Ten-minute speech samples were analyzed for the occurrence of “elderspeak,” systematic speech accommodations directed towards older adults, using measures of syntactic complexity, verbal fluency, prepositional content, lexical choice, discourse organization, speech rate, and other stylistic markers. Both the caregivers and service providers adjusted how they spoke to different audiences: They reduced the length and complexity of their utterances, produced more lexical fillers and sentence fragments, used fewer long words of three or more syllables, more utterances per turn and per topic, and more repetitions when addressing older adults. They also spoke more slowly and paused longer when addressing older audiences. Prepositional content, type-token ratios, diminutives and tag questions, however, did not vary with audience. These findings confirm prior subjective accounts of the use of an “elderspeak” register.     

Neural activity,neural connectivity,and the processing of emotionally valenced information in older adults: links with life satisfaction

This study examines whether differences in late-life well-being are linked to how older adults encode emotionally valenced information. Using fMRI with 39 older adults varying in life satisfaction, we examined how viewing positive and negative images would affect activation and connectivity of an emotion-processing network. Participants engaged most regions within this network more robustly for positive than for negative images, but within the PFC this effect was moderated by life satisfaction, with individuals higher in satisfaction showing lower levels of activity during the processing of positive images. Participants high in satisfaction showed stronger correlations among network regions—particularly between the amygdala and other emotion processing regions—when viewing positive, as compared with negative, images. Participants low in satisfaction showed no valence effect. Findings suggest that late-life satisfaction is linked with how emotion-processing regions are engaged and connected during processing of valenced information. This first demonstration of a link between neural recruitment and late-life well-being suggests that differences in neural network activation and connectivity may account for the preferential encoding of positive information seen in some older adults.     

依恋内部工作模型与老年人婚姻满意度的关系：基于夫妻成对数据的分析

依恋内部工作模型反映了个体在关系中对自我和他人的认知,虽然有很多研究证实了依恋风格与关系质量存在紧密关联,但自我和他人两个工作模型是否在预测关系质量上存在差异性尚未得到明确回答。本研究以老年群体为研究对象,直接考察自我模型与他人模型分别以怎样的方式预测婚姻满意度。研究使用问卷法对112对老年夫妻的内部工作模型、夫妻依恋取向、婚姻满意度等进行了测量,采用中介模型、交叉互倚模型以及方差分析分别从被试个体、夫妻主客体效应、以及夫妻匹配模式三个分析视角考察了依恋的两种内部工作模型与婚姻满意度的关联性。结果发现,相比他人模型,老年人自我模型与婚姻满意度的关联更为密切,且可以通过夫妻依恋双维度对其产生影响。但同时也发现,老年人依恋的内部工作模型与婚姻满意度的关联受到夫妻角色差异的影响：对于丈夫而言,自我模型与婚姻满意度的关联更为紧密,这可能与中国传统文化中的男性主导地位有关;而对于妻子而言,他人模型与婚姻满意度的关系更为紧密,这可能与女性在社会互动中更倾向于关系导向有关,也可能是传统文化中的“夫为妻纲”对老年女性的影响使然。     

Friendships of older men and women: exchange patterns and satisfaction

In this study we examined the relation between perceived equity of exchanges and friendship satisfaction for a sample of 110 older men and women. Respondents were interviewed concerning their relationship with their best friend and one other friend in their support network. Perceived equity was a significant predictor of friendship satisfaction only in the case of the other friend. In addition, results showed that men were involved in more equitable friendships than were women. Discussion focuses on the importance of equity consideration and gender differences in the friendships of older adults.     

Spiritual well-being in older adults: Harmonious interconnectedness

The current study was designed to identify indicators of spiritual well-being in persons 65 years of age and over, using a grounded theory approach through the constant comparative method of data analysis. The basic social process of harmonious interconnectedness was discovered. This process was the unifying force between categories and within each identified category. The study has implications for health care personnel in that it provides a basis for assessing spiritual well-being in patients.This study was partially funded by a special project grant from Marquette University.     

Interviewing children and adults: the effect of question format on the tendency to speculate

In formal interviews it is important that interviewees indicate when they do not know the answer, rather than speculate. In this study we investigated whether question format affected the tendency to speculate. One hundred and twenty‐eight 5‐ to 9‐year‐olds, and 23 adults, were told two short stories, and were then asked questions about the stories. Half of the questions were answerable based on the information provided; the other half were not answerable. Within these categories, half of the questions were closed questions (i.e. only required a yes/no response), and half were wh‐questions (i.e. requested particular details to be provided). All participants performed at ceiling with the answerable questions. With the unanswerable questions, there was an effect of format. The majority of children and adults correctly indicated that they did not know the answer when asked unanswerable wh‐questions. However, the majority of children, and just over one‐fifth of adults, provided a response (i.e. ‘yes’ or ‘no’) to the closed unanswerable questions. The implications for interviews, particularly within a forensic context, are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.