Latent difference score models (e.g., McArdle & Hamagami, 2001) are extended to include effects from prior changes to subsequent changes. This extension of latent difference scores allows for testing hypotheses where recent changes, as opposed to recent levels, are a primary predictor of subsequent changes. These models are applied to…

Age-related challenges to health and well-being among older adults give rise to a distinctive array of risk factors for suicide, calling for a unique approach to suicide interventions. Americans over the age of 65 are disproportionally overrepresented in the number of completed suicides. This paper examines the epidemiology of geriatric suicide,…

From a study on drug treatment effects on the memory and affective functioning of ambulatory geriatric volunteers, the author recommends several methodological accommodations as necessary and expedient to geriatric assessment. Special procedural attention is required by certain characteristics unique to, or exaggerated among, elderly participants.…

Subjects (N=43) aged 50 and more were tested on a Sternberg recognition-memory task to explore the relative effects of depression and altered brain function on short-term memory in later life. Many performance differnces were best accounted for by the additive effects of depression and educational background, rather than by either variable…

The Wickens "release from proactive inhibition" task involves presenting several trigrams of one type for several trials and then shifting to another type. College students, elderly community residents, and elderly rest-home residents were compared on the Wickens task. College students were superior in over-all memory. (Author)

Traditionally, the treatment of geriatric patients suffering from Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) has been characterized by non-therapeutic custodial care. To determine whether elderly clients with dementia can benefit from self-care skill training, and to compare their progress with clients without OBS, 30 clients of the Residential Aging Program in…

Discussion of behavioral interventions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) notes new understanding, including that memory is not a unitary phenomenon, that certain types of memory are relatively spared in AD, and that conceptual knowledge is largely intact. Intervention techniques that capitalize on spared memory systems and take advantage of principles…

Reviews causes of dementia in later life, especially the Alzheimer's type, its prevalence, the characteristic structural changes, and hypothesized causes. The hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease represents accelerated aging is described. Treatment issues are discussed, primarily in terms of supportive environments, differential diagnosis, and…