Memory compensation in older adults: assessment of structural characteristics and individual growth trajectories
Date
2018-11-15
Authors
de Frias, Cindy Melo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Older adults can preserve their everyday memory competence, despite increasing limits to plasticity, by engaging in compensatory strategies. The ability to mitigate losses in cognitive functioning and optimize development can be achieved through a variety of compensation mechanisms. Identifying means of enhancing cognitive competence in everyday life is an important focus for gerontological research. Compensating for memory deficits or losses in normal aging is the focus of this study. The self-report Memory Compensation Questionnaire (MCQ) was used to measure five mechanisms of everyday memory compensation, as well as two general aspects of compensatory motivation and awareness. The MCQ was administered on three occasions, at 3-year intervals, to a large sample of healthy older adults (initially aged 55–85 years) from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (VLS). Data collected from the VLS archives is used to investigate four linked goals about memory compensation in late life. The first goal is to examine the underlying structure of memory compensation using the MCQ. The structure of memory compensation was identified using confirmatory factor analyses. The second goal addresses the issue of measurement invariance of the structure of the MCQ across age groups (young-old and old-old), gender, and time (three waves). The structure of memory compensation was equivalent across groups and occasions. The third goal focuses on examining both 6-year mean-level change (in three occasions) and interindividual differences (variability) in intraindividual changes in memory compensation using growth curve analyses. Late life changes in efforts to use memory compensation mechanisms were identified at the group-level (e.g., average increase in external aids) and at the individual-level (i.e., variability in average growth trajectories). The fourth goal tests for sources of individual differences in intraindividual changes in memory compensation over the six-year period. The covariates were chronological age, biological age, personality dispositions, memory self-efficacy, and episodic memory performance. Variability in changes in memory compensation were influenced by chronological age, several personality dimensions (e.g., conscientiousness, neuroticism), memory self-efficacy, and better memory performance. Adapting to memory challenges in the presence of resource limitations is pivotal for research advances in cognitive resilience and successful cognitive aging.
Description
Keywords
Memory in old age, Memory, Age factors