When elderly (70-89 years) and younger (30-49 years) adults imitated complex sentences, younger adults were more able to imitate accurately and correctly paraphrase sentences regardless of length, position, or type of embedded clause. Elderly adults were unable to imitate or paraphrase correctly long constructions, suggesting an age-related…

To understand aging cross-culturally, used photography to perceive the perceiver. Asked persons averaging seventy-three years old from Japan and the United States to describe "Who are you?" by taking six photographs. Content analysis showed older Japanese to be inward and aesthetically oriented, while older Americans were more oriented…

A survey of U.S. dental schools to determine the status of geriatric dentistry in the curriculum is discussed. Evidence of growing commitment is shown by deans who plan to give geriatric dentistry increasing priority in the future and by the fact that all schools now teach geriatric dentistry in some way. (MLW)

Evaluated two measures of social function in 195 older adults who underwent neurological, cognitive, and affective assessment. Found the Functional Activities Questionnaire superior to the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale in discriminating among functional levels and in predicting neurologist ratings and cognitive scores. (Author)

Examined the attitudes and knowledge of 283 dental and medical students at different stages in their professional education. No significant deterioration or improvement in attitudes toward the aged was found in the course of medical and dental education. Correlational analysis revealed a complex relationship between knowledge and attitude scores.…

Compared single retired women and widows for the extent of their social involvement and degree of adjustment to old age. Widows were more socially engaged than singles, primarily because of their involvement in kinship roles. Never-married women were better adjusted than the widows. (Author)

A senior center activities program was made accessible to nursing home patients through a project called Centercare. Nursing home patients (N=144) from seven different institutions made 4370 senior center visits over a 33-month period. Project results indicate a senior center can successfully provide the institutionalized elderly with social and…

Compared the personal/social development of preschoolers in two intergenerational and two non-intergenerational settings. Found that children in intergenerational programs scored higher on the personal/social development scale of the Learning Accomplishment Profile than did children in non-intergenerational settings. (KB)

Describes two studies conducted in the United Kingdom that tested the effectiveness of flowcharts versus contingency statements for solving complex problems, one with secondary school students and one with senior citizens. Two measures of effectiveness are considered, speed and accuracy; and the effects of practice upon using the materials are…

We used a person perception paradigm to investigate whether ascriptions of personal traits differ for a young versus old target being interviewed for a volunteer position that will require the performance of memory-related tasks. Perceivers (52 men and 92 women, ages 18 to 75 years) read a script in which a young or old target interviewee was…

A study investigated language patterning, as an indication of synthetic mental activity, in comparison groups of normal pre-middle-aged adults (30-42 years), normal elderly adults (75-93), and elderly adults (71-91) with Alzheimer's dementia. Semiotic theory was used as the conceptual context. Linguistic measures included the Token Test, the…

This study examined the effect of chronic illness on the individual's ability to meet his or her need for solitude and for social interaction by exploring how chronically ill individuals used their own ability (self-care agency) to meet these needs. Subjects were 90 chronically ill older persons, 30 of whom were living at home, 30 who lived in a…

This document updates a recent report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) which compared Medicare catastrophic health insurance proposals. The update includes H.R. 2470, as passed by the House of Representatives and S. 1127, as reported by the Senate Committee on Finance. An introduction explains the roles of Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans…

The social network of elderly blacks was compared with whites in a sample of 241 ambulatory persons interviewed in congregate settings in a planning district of a border Southern state. Questions were asked about monthly patterns of social interaction, such as visiting and phone contacts with children, other kin, neighbors, friends, involvement in…

Although age-related memory differences in adulthood occur in a variety of memory tasks, most of these tasks represent uncommon memory demands. An investigation of everyday memory demands explored the effect of contextual organization on memory performance of middle aged (N=20) and older (N=20) women. Tasks involved reconstruction of spatial…