Browsing by Subject "Aging -- Psychological aspects"
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Item A test of the associative asymmetry hypothesis in the aged: the effect of attention, intelligence, and mediational strategies(Texas Tech University, 1981-05) Chandler, Cynthia KayPrevious study has shown that elderly subjects may recall fewer stimuli than responses in paired-associate (PA) tasks. To determine if intentional deficits could account for this asymmetry, elderly and young subjects participated in a self-paced PA task where they were instructed to spell the stimulus or merely say the stimulus aloud during the study-test procedure. A post-PA, free-recall task found no recall stimulus-response asymmetry. Older subjects and nonspeller subjects recalled fewer total words. No age differences in meditational strategies occurred. Verbal mediation was the most frequently used strategy and resulted in greater total recall. Mediational strategies were associated with Quick Test I.Q. scores such that the imagery strategy was most frequently preferred by those of a low I.Q. and verbal mediation and rote learning were most frequently preferred by those of a medium I.Q. Methodological differences between previous studies finding stimulus-response asymmetry and the present study are discussed.Item Changes in neuropsychological functioning in an aging population(Texas Tech University, 1979-12) Bak, Joseph SNot availableItem Cognitive-existential characteristics and their relationship to suicide ideation in college students and the elderly(Texas Tech University, 1990-12) Vannice, Jeff LEfforts to prevent suicidal behavior might be enhanced by performing research that focuses on increasing the understanding of suicidal ideation. This study sought to predict suicide ideation from, and to establish its relationship with, various cognitive factors that might comprise a "cognitive profile" of suicide ideation. Subjects consisted of 340 college students and 42 elderly persons--two groups that have been identified as sharing a high risk for suicide. Both samples completed a questionnaire assessing suicide acceptance, religiosity, and degree of suicide ideation. In addition, subjects completed the Purpose in Life Test, the Reasons for Living Inventory, the Rational Behavior Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale (SD). Analyses using the elderly data were limited by low sample size. Results indicated that college students were able to significantly distinguish between the frequency and seriousness of their suicidal ideation and among lifetime, past year, and past month time-frames, but not when SD was controlled. The college students were more accepting of suicide, less religious, had less purpose in life, endorsed fewer rational beliefs, and were more lonely than the elderly. Many of these differences became nonsignificant, however, when SD (on which the elderly scored significantly higher than the college students) was controlled. Among college students, the linear combination of purpose in life, suicide acceptance, survival and coping beliefs, and the fear of suicide accounted for 28H of the variance in a "general frequency" (OF) measure of suicide ideation when SD was controlled, and these cognitive variables predicted 43% of the variance in GF when covariation with SD was not controlled. Also among college students, suicide ideation was directly related to suicide acceptance, fear of suicide, and loneliness, and it was inversely related to purpose in life, survival and coping beliefs, responsibility to family, child-related concerns, and to overall reasons for living. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are discussed.Item Remotivation therapy: a test of a major assumption of the treatment with domiciled, geriatric veterans(Texas Tech University, 1977-05) Greenfield, David Sherman,Not available