Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: influence of domain specificity and cognitive appraisal

Differences in problem-solving strategies for situations varying in three domains, consumer, home management, and conflict with friends, were examined among younger, middle-aged, and older adults. In addition, this study examined the influence of perceived ability to resolve the problem, controllability, and causal attributions on strategy selection. In the 2 instrumental domains, older adults were more problem focused in their approach than adolescents and younger adults, whereas adolescents and younger adults selected more passive-dependent strategies. In the more interpersonal domain, conflict with friends, older adults tended to select avoidant-denial strategies more so than younger adults. Finally, across domains, the greater the perceived ability to resolve a problem the less the avoidant-denial strategy was selected. The importance of distinguishing between social and instrumental problem solving and of examining the cognitive appraisal of a problem situation are discussed.     

Sexuality and sexual capacities of elderly people

Sexual behavior depends on biological and psychological factors. A gradual decline in interest and capacity may occur with advancing age. Sexual relationships have patterns that are influenced by prior degrees of sexual tension and outlet, physical and emotional status, and the mutual needs of the partners. In this article, the authors explore sexuality, psychosocial issues, and sexual capacities of elderly people, including issues of menopause and erectile dysfunction. The role of rehabilitation nurses in helping older adults understand and adjust to changes is addressed. Sexual counseling, already a part of rehabilitation nursing for younger patients, also should be provided for elderly patients. Nursing goals and strategies need to address identifying sexual problems and educating elderly rehabilitation patients about altered sexual needs and capacities. To do this, rehabilitation nurses must be knowledgeable about the physiology and sexual needs of older adults, be aware of myths about sexuality, and understand their own values and attitudes regarding sex and sexuality as well as the values and attitudes of individual patients.     

The prevalence of diabetes and associated coronary risk factors in urban and rural older Mexican populations

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of diabetes and examine its association with food intake, anthropometric and metabolic variables, and other coronary risk factors in urban and rural older Mexican populations. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Three Mexican communities (urban areas of medium and low income and a rural area). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 121 men and 223 women aged 60 years and older and 93 men and 180 women aged 35 to 59 years were selected randomly for inclusion in the survey, which was derived from the CRONOS study (Cross-Cultural Research on Nutrition in the Older Adult Study Group) promoted by the European Economic Community. MEASUREMENTS: A personal interview assessed demographic information, personal medical history, and functional status, and a 24-hour diet recall was obtained. A physical examination included anthropometric and blood pressure measurements. A fasting blood sample was obtained for measurements of lipids, insulin, and glucose. RESULTS: Diabetes prevalence was higher in men than in women for all age groups: 16.7% versus 9.5% in younger adults and 30.8% versus 22.8% in older adults. For all age groups, diabetes was more highly prevalent in urban communities. Using a multivariate stepwise logistic regression, variables associated independently with diabetes in older individuals were: gender (male sex: OR = 2.1; P < .009); diminished carbohydrate intake in the diet (OR = 0.77; P < .03); central distribution of adiposity (OR = 1.9; P < .03); and functional disability (OR = 2.3; P < .01). This relationship was not observed with living area, income, education, fiber and alcohol intake, body mass index, or age. Individuals 80 years and older had a diminished atherogenic risk profile. Diabetes in older people was associated significantly with hypertriglyceridemia, impaired functional status, and an increased prevalence of ischemic heart disease; in younger adults diabetes was associated with low density lipoprotein (LDL) hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and a proportionally higher fat intake. CONCLUSION: This survey confirms the high prevalence of diabetes in the older Mexican population - particularly in men and in individuals living in urban areas - associated with an increased prevalence of other coronary risk factors. Diabetes was associated with higher fat, low carbohydrate, low fiber diets and increased prevalence of central distribution of adiposity. In the older subjects, diabetes was associated significantly with hypertriglyceridemia, impaired functional status, and increased prevalence of ischemic heart disease. A bias produced by early mortality and a survivorship effect must be considered in studies of older individuals. The health situation in the older Mexican population presents a complex problem that needs correct diagnosis and better strategies to benefit those segments of the population at increased risk.     

Oh, honey, I already forgot that: Strategic control of directed forgetting in older and younger adults.

Two experiments investigated list-method directed forgetting with older and younger adults. Using standard directed forgetting instructions, significant forgetting was obtained with younger but not older adults. However, in Experiment 1 older adults showed forgetting with an experimenter-provided strategy that induced a mental context change--specifically, engaging in diversionary thought. Experiment 2 showed that age-related differences in directed forgetting occurred because older adults were less likely than younger adults to initiate a strategy to attempt to forget. When the instructions were revised to downplay their concerns about memory, older adults engaged in effective forgetting strategies and showed significant directed forgetting comparable in magnitude to younger adults. The results highlight the importance of strategic processes in directed forgetting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Saving the best for last: How adults treat social partners of different ages.

Older adults report more positive feelings and fewer problems in their relationships than do younger adults. These positive experiences may partially reflect how people treat older adults. Social partners may treat older adults more kindly due to their sense that time remaining to interact with these older adults is limited. Younger (n = 87, age 22 to 35) and older (n = 89, age 65 to 77) participants indicated how positively they would behave (i.e., express affection, proffer respect, send sentimental cards) and what types of conflict strategies they would use in response to hypothetical negative interactions with two close social partners, a younger adult and an older adult. Multilevel models revealed that participants were more avoidant and less confrontational when interacting with older adults than when interacting with younger adults. Time perspective of the relationship partially mediated these age differences. Younger and older participants were also more likely to select sentimental cards for older partners than for younger partners. Findings build on socioemotional selectivity theory and the social input model to suggest that social partners facilitate better relationships in late life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit learning of a nonverbal sequence in younger and older adults.

Two experiments examined age-related differences in implicit serial learning using the M. J. Nissen and P. Bullemer (see record 1987-13436-001) task. Younger adults and 2 samples of older adults who differed in educational attainment, occupational status, and verbal ability were given a 10-trial repeating sequence embedded in 100-trial blocks. On each trial, participants pressed a key that matched a designated spatial location. Implicit learning was inferred from the difference in reaction time (RT) between a random sequence trial block and the immediately preceding block with the repeating sequence. Results indicated that negative transfer effects were comparable for the younger and higher ability older adults, but lower ability older adults showed less evidence of implicit learning. On an explicit task, younger and higher ability older adults were more accurate than the lower ability older adults. The implications of these findings for current views on implicit learning in adulthood are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive monitoring and strategy choice in younger and older adults.

Younger (24- to 39-year-old) and older (60- to 88-year-old) adults learned a list of vocabulary words; one half of the words were studied using a generally more powerful strategy (mnemonic keyword method), and one half mediated with a less powerful approach (generating semantic contexts). Before using these strategies as part of the experiment, neither younger nor older adults judged that the keyword method was more effective and neither group preferred one strategy over the other. After using the strategies and taking a test of strategically studied unfamiliar vocabulary words, the younger subjects reported accurately the relative effectiveness of the two strategies and selected the one that had worked better for them to apply to a subsequent list of vocabulary items. The older participants were not as aware of the differential potency of the strategies and did not rely as much as did the younger subjects on knowledge of strategy utility in making strategy choices. In short, metacognitive awareness of strategy effects produced by monitoring and use of metacognitive awareness in regulating strategy choice were more pronounced in the younger compared with the older sample in this study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns and predictors of mental health service use and mental illness among older and younger adults in the United States.

The present study examined patterns of serious mental illness (SMI), specific mental health syndromes, and service use among older (65+) and younger (18-64) adults throughout the United States, and the extent to which various factors predict SMI and the use and magnitude of mental health treatment. Despite recent developments designed to improve mental healthcare access and treatment for older adults, older individuals were found to receive outpatient mental healthcare at very low rates. Compared to younger adults, older adults were three times less likely to report receiving treatment. Although prevalence estimates for SMI and specific syndromes were markedly lower among older than younger adults, older individuals most in need of care were highly unlikely to report receiving treatment. Findings point to the importance of perceived need in mental healthcare use. Significantly, however, those older adults that made it into services typically reported benefiting considerably from treatment, at least as much as all other age groups. Several predisposing, enabling, and need factors related to mental illness and service use were identified that have important implications for how we plan for, design, and deliver mental health services to older and younger Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Updating knowledge about encoding strategies: A componential analysis of learning about strategy effectiveness from task experience.

Researchers have argued for age deficits in learning about the effects of encoding strategies from task experience, partly on the basis of absolute accuracy of metacognitive judgments. However, these findings could be attributed to factors other than age differences in learning. Forty older and 40 younger adults participated in 2 study-test trials in which they studied paired associates with imagery or repetition, predicted recall for the items, attempted recall, and postdicted recall. Recall was greater after imagery than repetition, yet this effect was not fully reflected by predictions made on Trial 1. Although both older and younger adults accurately postdicted recall from Trial 1, absolute accuracy of the predictions made on Trial 2 showed little improvement. By contrast, both age groups demonstrated increases in between-person correlations of predictions with recall, which is inconsistent with age deficits in knowledge updating. Thus, both older and younger adults had updated knowledge about the relative effects of the strategies, but such updating was not evident in the absolute accuracy of the predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive consequences of expressive regulation in older adults.

Previous research has suggested that older and young adults are equally able to regulate their outward expressions of emotion and that the regulation of emotional expression in younger adults results in decreased memory for the emotional stimulus. In the current study, we examined whether older adults show this same memory effect. Older and young adults viewed positive and negative emotional pictures under instructions to view the pictures naturally, enhance their facial expressions, or suppress their facial expressions. Older and young adults showed equivalent outward regulation of expression, but suppressing their emotional expressions led to reduced memory for emotional stimuli only in the young adults. The results suggest that older and young adults are achieving control of their expressions through different mechanisms or strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

No age differences in complex memory search: Older adults search as efficiently as younger adults.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated age differences in memory search under 4 conditions: forward search, backward search, random search, and fixed irregular search. Both search slopes and serial position curves were investigated. Mixing conditions led to smaller age differences than blocking conditions, suggesting that younger adults have an advantage over older adults when strategies can be applied to memory scanning. All age differences in scanning rates, however, disappeared when age differences in a magnitude-judgment control task were controlled for, showing that age differences in memory scanning tasks are not because of the scanning process per se, but because of attention, sensorimotor speed, and decision processes. In both experiments, the serial position curves of older adults echoed those of younger adults closely, demonstrating that younger and older adults use the same scanning processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and individual differences influence prospective memory.

The influence of age and individual ability differences on event-based prospective memory was examined using an adapted version of G. 0. Einstein and M. A. McDaniel's (1990) task. Two samples of younger and older adults who differed in educational attainment, occupational status, and verbal ability were compared. Results yield comparable prospective performance for the younger groups and higher ability older adults; lower ability older adults performed more poorly by comparison. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that working memory span and recognition accounted for small but significant proportions of variance in prospective performance. The contribution of ability level to prospective memory remained significant even after statistically controlling for self-reported health and social activity characteristics. Implications for current views on prospective memory aging are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in lapses of intention in the Stroop task

The study evaluated the hypothesis that older adults are more susceptible to lapses of intention (lapses) than are younger adults, and explored the factors contributing to these lapses. The findings of three experiments examining the pattern of intrusion errors in the Stroop task revealed that older adults were more likely to experience lapses than were younger adults, and that lapses tended to be of longer duration in older than younger adults. Lapses were observed under conditions of suboptimal controlled attentional processing, when task conditions required the allocation of this processing in the service of multiple behavioral goals, and during periods of slowed responding. The findings of these experiments are consistent with those from a growing number of studies indicating that older adults are more susceptible to lapses of intention than younger adults.     

Older Adults as Adaptive Decision Makers: Evidence From the Iowa Gambling Task.

Older adults process emotional information differently than younger adults and may demonstrate less of a negativity bias on cognitive tasks. The Iowa Gambling Task designed by A. Bechara, H. Damasio, D. Tranel, and A. R. Damasio (1997) has been used to examine the integration of emotion and cognition in a risky-choice decision task and may give insight into differences in the decision-making strategies in younger and older adults. Eighty-eight younger adults (18-34 years) and 67 older adults (65-88 years) completed the Iowa Gambling Task. Using a theoretical decomposition of the task designed by J. R. Busemeyer and J. C. Stout (2002), the authors found that both groups were successful at solving the task but used very different strategies that reflected each group's strength. For younger adults, that strength was learning and memory. For older adults, that strength was an accurate representation of wins and losses (valence). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in problem-solving style: The role of emotional salience.

Qualitative differences in problem-solving style for situations varying in emotional salience were examined among adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants wrote essays on how each of 15 problem situations should be resolved. There were minimal age differences for problem-focused strategies, with all age groups using this strategy the most. Age differences for problem-solving strategy were highly dependent on the degree to which the situation was emotionally salient. All individuals were more likely to use an avoidant-denial strategy in low emotionally salient situations and passive-dependent and cognitive-analysis strategies in high emotionally salient situations. However, older adults used both passive-dependent and avoidant-denial strategies more than younger age groups. Problem-focused strategies were used least in high emotionally salient situations. Implications of findings are discussed from an adult developmental perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of problem gamblers 56 years of age or older: A statewide study of casino self-excluders.

Gambling among older adults appears to be increasing, though little is known about the characteristics of older adult problem gamblers. The purpose of this study was to compare older adults to younger and middle-aged adults in a cohort of problem gamblers participating in a state-administered casino self-exclusion program. Self-reported problem gamblers (N = 1,601) who voluntary banned themselves from Missouri casinos from 2001 to 2003 were categorized by age as younger adults (ages 21 to 35; n = 490), middle-aged adults (ages 36 to 55; n = 950), and older adults (ages 56 to 79; n = 161), and were compared with respect to demographic variables, gambling participation, and reasons for self-exclusion. Older adult self-excluders typically began gambling in midlife, experienced gambling problems around age 60, reported preferences for nonstrategic forms of gambling, and identified fear of suicide as the primary reason for self-excluding. Implications for intervention, prevention and treatment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vulnerability of Older Adults to Deception in Prison and Nonprison Contexts.

Media reports frequently depict older adults as victims of deception. The public perceives these stories as particularly salient because older adults are seen as fragile victims taken advantage of because of trusting behaviors. This developmental investigation of deception detection examines older and younger adults interacting in 2 contexts, prison and the "free world," to discover whether older adults are vulnerable to deception. Younger prisoners were found to be lie biased. Older adults were better able to discriminate lies than younger adults, and this effect was localized primarily to older female adults. Findings indicate that discriminability strongly increases from younger to older age for women, whereas men do not show an improvement, as age increases, in making decisions about statement veracity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing the effects of aging and background noise of short-term memory performance.

Paired associate recall was tested as a function of serial position for younger and older adults for five word pairs presented aurally in quiet and in noise. In Experiment 1, the addition of noise adversely affected recall in young adults, but only in the early serial positions. Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that the recall of older adults listening to the words in quiet was nearly equivalent to that of younger adults listening in noise. In Experiment 4, we determined the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) such that, on average, younger and older adults were able to correctly hear the same percentage of words when words were presented one at a time in noise. In Experiment 5, younger adults were tested under this S/N. Compared with older adults from Experiment 3, younger adults in this experiment recalled more words at all serial positions. The results are interpreted as showing that encoding in secondary memory is impaired by aging and noise either as a function of degraded sensory representations, or as a function of reduced processing resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)