WAIS performance in young normal, young alcoholic, and elderly normal groups: an evaluation of organicity and mental aging indices.

Investigated the effects of alcoholism and advanced age on Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) performance and tested the validity of indices of "organicity" and "mental aging" derived from WAIS scores. The WAIS was administered to three groups of 20 males each: young normal (mean age 31 years), young alcoholic (mean age 33 years), and elderly normal (mean age 71 years. In terms of scaled scores, the young normal group was generally superior to the other groups on Verbal and Performance subtests, and the alcoholic and elderly groups resembled each other more on the Verbal than the Performance subtests. In view of an almost 40-year difference in age between the young alcoholic and the elderly normal Ss, similarities in pattern of performance provided some evidence for the hypothesis of "premature aging" in alcholics.