No description available.

No description available.

In 2002, older drivers 70 and above had higher rates of fatal crashes than any other group except for young novice drivers and accounted for 12% of all fatal accidents. These fatal crash rates rise sharply with increasing age. A number of studies have indicated that the high crash rates are associated with decreases in useful field of view. One of the consequences of this decrease might be a corresponding decrease in older adult's ability to attend to information in the periphery that is relevant to identifying real and potential risks and at the same time to attend to information in the road ahead necessary to maintain lane position, among other things. This hypothesis was evaluated on a fixed-base driving simulator, using eye movements to index whether adults 60 years old and older were increasingly less likely to attend to information that signals potential risks. The results show that old-old (75-79) drivers recognize risk more often than middle-aged (40-50) drivers and middle-old (70-74) drivers, but just as often as young-old (60-69) drivers. An eye movement analysis explains these surprising results by indicating that old-old drivers are scanning more frequently but without real comprehension of where the risks exist. It further suggests that old-old drivers are not selecting, dividing or sustaining attention well enough to selectively scan the environment, accurately predict risks, and plan appropriate defensive driving maneuvers.

Women have a longer life expectancy than men, yet there have been few studies exploring the multifaceted dimensions of successful aging among community-dwelling older women. In the present study, grounded theory methods were used to discover their subjective meaning of successful aging and the strategies older women use to age successfully. Participants included seventeen women between the ages of 73 and 104 residing independently in New England who described themselves as aging successfully. Data sources included tape-recorded interviews, telephone follow up calls, participant journals, and field notes. Using constant comparative data analysis, the basic social process of Transcendence in Successful Aging was discovered. The participants described experiencing individual causal conditions and characteristics that informed their selection of one of three paths of Transcendence in Successful Aging; sedulous transcendence, spiritual transcendence or sanguine transcendence. The general strategies used by these women to manage age and health related change and age successfully included accepting by being positive, surveying the options and following the path; adjusting, by charting the options, and acting by preserving interest and continuing involvement. The participants described successful aging strategies specific to each type of transcendence. The outcome of Transcendence in Successful Aging was identified as personal satisfaction with life course. Knowledge of the meaning and process of successful aging among community-dwelling older women is essential for understanding the strategies they use to manage age and health related change and age successfully. The results of this study have implications for education, practice and research. Insight into older women's personal meanings of successful aging and the strategies they use to age successfully will assist nurses and health care providers to support community-dwelling older women in the self-management of age and health related change while promoting their successful aging.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

The elderly segment of this country's population is growing rapidly. By the beginning of the next century, adults age 65 and over will fully comprise one-quarter of the population. It cannot be assumed that communication principles that apply to young adults are directly applicable to elderly adults. Age-related changes in learning, memory and information processing can have a dramatic effect on communicating with an aging population. The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Petty and Cacioppo provided the underlying persuasion theory for this study. Previous advertising and gerontological research provided additional theoretical basis for the research hypotheses. This study examined the impact of personal relevance and type of ad copy on the persuasion process for elderly as compared to young adults. More specifically, the research objectives were: (1) To examine information processing differences for persuasive communications between elderly and young adults under conditions of high and low personal relevance. (2) To study the persuasiveness and memorability of abstract and concrete ad copy for elderly and young adults. (3) To identify reasons for age-related deficits in memory. To accomplish these objectives, chronological age, personal relevance and type of ad copy factors were manipulated in a 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects design. There were two levels each of age (young/old adults), personal relevance (high/low), and type of ad copy (abstract/concrete). Two hundred, thirty-eight young and elderly subjects were studied. All subjects participated in an experimental session in which they examined a sample magazine containing stimulus advertisements and then completed a questionnaire. Results of the study showed that young adults appear to have better aided recall and recognition memory for advertisements than older adults. There were differential effects for abstract and concrete ad copy. For both age groups, concrete was remembered better than abstract ad copy. Yet, elderly adults exposed to concrete ad copy appeared to have higher levels of purchase intent in the high personal relevance condition than in the low personal relevance condition. Overall, elderly adults had higher levels of purchase intent than young adults, but poorer memory performance. Finally, memory deficits among elderly adults appeared to stem from problems recalling information from memory, not due to encoding information into memory. The implications of the study findings for advertising are many. These relate to the type of copy used in print advertisements, media selection for reaching the elderly adult, and advertisement effectiveness measurement, to name a few. It is clear that advertisers need to approach elderly adults differently than they do young adults. Future research directions are presented.

Several factors, including the role of practice, have confounded the results of various strategies to counteract adverse aging effects on human motor control. Additionally, the biological degeneration that accompanies aging may result in elderly neuromuscular control mechanisms that are different from those in younger persons; mechanisms that need to be accounted for to effectively implement other rehabilitation methods. Neuromuscular control mechanisms, and the nature and extent of practice-related effects, were examined in sixteen older males (mean age = 61.4 years) and sixteen younger males (mean age = 20.0 years). Neuromuscular coordination was assessed by the triphasic electromyographic (EMG) pattern and corresponding kinematics from a maximally fast and accurate elbow flexion movement. Practice effects were examined over days 1 to 4 under loaded and unloaded inertial load conditions, and extended practice effects under a single load condition over days 5 to 8. Retention effects were assessed one month after day 8 (days 9 and 10). The results and conclusions were as follows: (1) Learning in younger and older individuals progressed with different strategies; after the initial day the young subjects concentrated on refining movement accuracy while the elders improved in speed; (2) Kinematic and EMG improvements with practice were limited to the unloaded conditions. The addition of external load saturated the neuromuscular control mechanisms, resulting in a neuromuscular control system that had little room for adaptations in the practice time provided; (3) Overall, the elders performed poorer than the young group with respect to kinematics, and differentially poorer when the movement was performed in the unloaded condition. Data from the present investigation suggested that the elders were at a disadvantage when rapid phasic muscle activation was necessary in the inherently faster unloaded movements; (4) Neither age group showed much evidence of performance decrement over the retention interval, and hence, there was no evidence of age-related forgetting; (5) Neither EMG or kinematic performance in either load condition was affected to a different extent by extended, load-specific practice. Thus, load-specific practice, at least after a baseline period of practice, can be considered equivalent with respect to transfer effects.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University

No description available.

No description available.