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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This investigation has examined the demographic and social psychological variables of voluntary association membership, income, self-perceived health, marital status, level of education, and their relationship on' age and happiness. The data were obtained from an interview study based on a probability sample-survey of the adult population of the United States, which was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). Cross-tabulations were used as the mode of analysis.The study looked at the relationship between independent variable of age and the dependent variable of happiness. In addition, the variables of voluntary association membership, income, self-perceived health, marital status, level of education, and sex were used as controls to ascertain what affect, if any, they might have upon the relationship between age and happiness. Results from the study indicate that happiness varies by age and is also affected by the control variables. The findings also concur with previous research in showing the importance of self-perceived health and level of income as predictors of life satisfaction among the aged.

This thesis examined predictors of mood disturbance by use of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in older and younger subjects using a multiple regression procedure. Major variables used were home security, community security, health, marital status, age, income, perceived mobility, desire for increased mobility, and total excursion destinations. Variables entering in the equation for each group differed significantly. For the older group, home security and income were significant variables. For the younger group only desire for increased mobility predicted mood disturbance. The expected relationship with mobility was not significant for older individuals. These results indicate a need to re-evaluate the determinants of mood disturbance in the young and old and a need to review the emphasis on mobility for the old by younger policymakers.

No description available.

The purpose of the present investigation was to gather data on the performance of nonpatient elderly subjects on the Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Test. The Comprehensive System (Exner, 1985, 1986) was used for administering, scoring, and interpreting the Rorschach because it is a research-based form with demonstrated reliability and validity and it has become the most widely used approach to the Rorschach in the past 13 years. However, the norms were based upon an adult sample, ages 18 to 64. Therefore, the present study addressed the following problems: What are the normative data for the Rorschach of a nonpatient group of elderly? How do these normative data of the elderly compare with the normative data for younger adults?Method The study used 60 men and women, ages 65 to 94, all active, nonpatient volunteers with no psychiatric history. They lived independently of any institutional supervision or care.Results Means of Rorschach variables for elderly subjects were compared with the means for a younger adult population. The elderly had significantly lower means for R, P, W, D, S, DQ+, DQ v/+, FQo, M, Ma, Mp, a (active), FC, CF, Wgt Sum C, FC'+C'F+C', FY+YF+Y, Sum Shading, (2), FD, Zd, EA, D score, ADJ D, Blends, Col-Sh B1, X+%, F+%, Pure H, ALL H Cont, DV, DR, INCOM, SUM6 SP SC, and SUM 6 SP SC.The aged subjects produced significantly higher means for the following indices: Dd, FQ-, M-, FM, C+Cn, Lambda, Z-%, S-Constell, SCZI, DEPRI, PER, and PSV.The older adults performed neither significantly higher or lower for these variables: DQo, DQv, FQ+, FQu, m, p (passive), FT+TF+T, FV+VF+V, Fr + rF, F, Zf, es, 3r+(2)/R, FABCOM, ALOG, CONTAM, AG, CONFAB, CP, and MOR.These results indicate that the elderly in this study give responses which are less embellished, complex, synthesized, and conventional and to have percepts that are of poorer quality and are more distorted than those of younger adults.The following nine percentages for the elderly group were significantly higher than for the younger adult group with whom they were compared: M - WSUM C = +1.5 to -1.5, D SCORE < 0, ADJ D SCORE < 0, Zd SCORE < -3.0, X+% < .70, F+% < .70, X-% > .15, Afr < .55, and Pure H < 2.These percentages show that the aged had no preferred problem-solving style, had more stressors than skills to cope with them, are somewhat negligent and less accurate in processing information, avoid emotion, and have less interest in the social environment. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The present study was an exploration of the relationships among life satisfaction, attitudes toward aging and responses to cartoons about aging. Subjects were 86 community resident, active and financially secure adults aged 53 to 85. In this sample of subjects, the Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin, 1961) factors of Mood, Congruence and Zest combined with satisfaction with social involvements to account for 50% of the variance of attitude toward old age. Attitudes toward aging were measured with the Kogan-Wallach (1961) semantic differential evaluating the concept of "old age". As expected, all subjects rated cartoons which portrayed a clearly negative view of aging as less funny and more negative than cartoons which portrayed a more ambivalent view of aging. Contrary to expectation, responses to cartoons about aging were unrelated to life satisfaction, evaluations of old age or perceived societal attitudes toward old age.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The purpose of this study was to test two hypotheses concerning reminiscence in old age. Reminiscence has been found to be an adaptive mechanism relating to freedom from clinical depression and to a reduced discrepancy between present and past self-concepts in the face of an experimental social threat (Mc Mahon and Rhudick, 1964; Lewis, 1971). Disengagement theory (Cumming and Henry, 1961) proposes that reminiscence is adaptive because it is a defense mechanism which protects the individual from decreasing physical capacities and lack of reinforcement from society.