Riffo Bernardo, Rojas Carlos, Helo Andrea, Véliz Mónica, Urzúa Paula, Gutierrez Gloria, Guerra Ernesto
Department of Spanish, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile.
Department of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillán 3780000, Chile.
J Intell. 2024 Dec 31;13(1):4. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence13010004.
Older adults in the third-age group (60-79 years) maintain reading comprehension skills similar to those of younger adults, but little is known about individuals in the fourth age (80+ years). This study investigates differences in reading comprehension in a between-group design. We evaluated a sample of 150 older adults, comprising 86 third-age and 64 fourth-age participants. We examined the influence of sex, cognitive functioning, formal education, self-perceived reading difficulties, and reading habits on their text comprehension abilities. The results show that fourth-age adults have a significant decline in reading comprehension compared to third-age adults. Strong reading habits were positively associated with better comprehension across both groups, suggesting that regular reading may buffer against age-related cognitive decline. Poor readers read less frequently and perceived greater difficulty with the tasks. Cognitive functioning and education did not significantly influence comprehension-possibly due to the generally low education levels in the sample. However, strong reading habits appeared to compensate for these limitations. These findings suggest a potential protective role of lifelong reading habits and highlight the need for interventions to support reading skills in older adults, especially those with lower educational backgrounds. Future research should explore these dynamics further to enhance cognitive resilience in the oldest populations.
第三年龄段（60 - 79岁）的老年人保持着与年轻人相似的阅读理解能力，但对于80岁及以上的第四年龄段人群了解甚少。本研究在组间设计中调查阅读理解的差异。我们评估了150名老年人的样本，其中包括86名第三年龄段参与者和64名第四年龄段参与者。我们研究了性别、认知功能、正规教育、自我感知的阅读困难以及阅读习惯对他们文本理解能力的影响。结果表明，与第三年龄段成年人相比，第四年龄段成年人的阅读理解能力显著下降。良好的阅读习惯与两组更好的理解能力呈正相关，这表明定期阅读可能缓冲与年龄相关的认知衰退。阅读能力差的人阅读频率较低，并且认为任务难度更大。认知功能和教育并未对理解能力产生显著影响——这可能是由于样本中普遍较低的教育水平。然而，良好的阅读习惯似乎弥补了这些限制。这些发现表明终身阅读习惯具有潜在的保护作用，并强调需要采取干预措施来支持老年人的阅读技能，尤其是那些教育背景较低的老年人。未来的研究应进一步探索这些动态变化，以增强最年长者群体的认知恢复力。
