Berry Jane M, Williams Helen L, Thomas Kevin D, Blair Jamie
a Department of Psychology , University of Richmond , Richmond , Virginia , USA.
Exp Aging Res. 2015;41(2):157-76. doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2015.1001653.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Older adults have more complex and differentiated views of aging than do younger adults, but less is known about age-related perceptions of Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated age-related perceptions of competence of an older adult labeled as "in good health" (healthy) or "has Alzheimer's disease" (AD), using a person-perception paradigm. It was predicted that older adults would provide more differentiated assessments of the two targets than would younger adults.
Younger (n=86; 18-36 years) and older (n=66; 61-95 years) adults rated activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and memory abilities of a female target aged 75 years, described as healthy or with AD. Data on anxiety about aging, knowledge of and experience with aging and AD, knowledge of memory aging, and positive and negative biases toward aging and AD were also collected.
Older adults perceived the healthy target as more capable of cognitively effortful activities (e.g., managing finances) and as possessing better memory abilities than the AD target. As predicted, these differences were greater than differences between targets perceived by younger adults. The interaction effect remained significant after statistically controlling for relevant variables, including education and gender. Additionally, exploratory analyses revealed that older adults held less positively biased views of AD than younger adults, but negatively biased views were equivalent between age groups.
The results demonstrate that mere labels of "healthy" and "Alzheimer's disease" produce significant and subtle age differences in perceived competencies of older adults, and that biases towards AD vary by age group and valence. Our findings extend the person-perception paradigm to an integrative analysis of aging and AD, are consistent with models of adult development, and complement current research and theory on stereotypes of aging. Future directions for research on perceptions of aging are suggested.
背景/研究背景：与年轻人相比，老年人对衰老有着更复杂、更具分化性的看法，但对于与年龄相关的阿尔茨海默病认知却知之甚少。本研究采用人物认知范式，调查了被标记为“健康状况良好”（健康）或“患有阿尔茨海默病”（AD）的老年人与年龄相关的能力认知。研究预测，与年轻人相比，老年人会对这两个目标给出更具分化性的评估。
年轻人（n = 86；18 - 36岁）和老年人（n = 66；61 - 95岁）对一名75岁女性目标对象的日常生活活动（ADL）、工具性日常生活活动（IADL）和记忆能力进行评分，该目标对象被描述为健康或患有AD。同时还收集了关于衰老焦虑、衰老及AD的知识与经验、记忆衰老知识以及对衰老和AD的正负性偏差的数据。
老年人认为健康目标对象比患有AD的目标对象更有能力从事需要认知努力的活动（如理财），且拥有更好的记忆能力。正如预测的那样，这些差异比年轻人所认知的目标对象之间的差异更大。在对包括教育程度和性别在内的相关变量进行统计控制后，交互作用仍然显著。此外，探索性分析表明，老年人对AD的正向偏差看法比年轻人少，但各年龄组的负向偏差看法相当。
结果表明，仅仅“健康”和“阿尔茨海默病”的标签就会在老年人的感知能力方面产生显著且细微的年龄差异，并且对AD的偏差因年龄组和效价而异。我们的研究结果将人物认知范式扩展到对衰老和AD的综合分析，与成人发展模型一致，并补充了当前关于衰老刻板印象的研究和理论。文中还提出了关于衰老认知研究的未来方向。
