Nelson E A, Dannefer D
Loyola College Counselling Center, Baltimore, MD 21210.
Gerontologist. 1992 Feb;32(1):17-23. doi: 10.1093/geront/32.1.17.
Studies examining age-related changes typically report findings as age-based generalizations that neglect the phenomenon of variability in gerontological research. This paper examines the degree of attention given in 185 studies to individual differences and the empirical patterns of variability reported in those studies that present measures of dispersion. Measures of dispersion were reported in 43% of the gerontological studies reviewed and in 24% of the developmental studies. Overall, a majority of all gerontological studies presenting data reported increases in variability with increasing age (65%). This pattern was more pronounced in longitudinal studies than in cross-sectional ones.
研究年龄相关变化的研究通常将研究结果报告为基于年龄的概括，而忽略了老年学研究中的变异性现象。本文考察了185项研究对个体差异的关注程度，以及那些呈现离散度测量值的研究中所报告的变异性实证模式。在所审查的老年学研究中，43%报告了离散度测量值，在发育研究中这一比例为24%。总体而言，所有呈现数据的老年学研究中，大多数报告随着年龄增长变异性增加（65%）。这种模式在纵向研究中比在横断面研究中更为明显。
