ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) have been operationalized as exhibiting a greater level of complexity than basic ADL. In the same way, incorporating more advanced ADLs may increase the sensitivity of functional measures to identify cognitive changes that may precede IADL impairment. Towards this direction, the IADL-extended scale (IADL-x) consists of four IADL tasks and five advanced ADLs (leisure time activities). DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional study. SETTING: Athens and Larissa, Greece. PARTICIPANTS: 1,864 community-dwelling men and women aged over 64. MEASUREMENTS: We employed both the IADL-x and IADL scales to assess functional status among all the participants. Diagnoses were assigned dividing the population of our study into three groups: cognitively normal (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia patients. Neuropsychological evaluation was stratified in five cognitive domains: memory, language, attention-speed, executive functioning and visuospatial perception. Z scores for each cognitive domain as well as a composite z score were constructed. Models were controlled for age, sex, education and depression. RESULTS: In both IADL-x and IADL scales dementia patients reported the most functional difficulties and CN participants the fewest, with MCI placed in between. When we restricted the analyses to the CN population, lower IADL-x score was associated with worse cognitive performance. This association was not observed when using the original IADL scale. CONCLUSION: There is strong evidence that the endorsement of more advanced IADLs in functional scales may be useful in detecting cognitive differences within the normal spectrum.
Subject(s)
Aging/physiology , Aging/psychology , Cognition Disorders/psychology , Cognition/physiology , Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology , Dementia/psychology , Activities of Daily Living/psychology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Cognitive Dysfunction/complications , Cognitive Dysfunction/diagnosis , Cross-Sectional Studies , Dementia/complications , Dementia/diagnosis , Executive Function , Female , Functional Status , Greece , Humans , Independent Living , Male , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Personality traits have been shown to be predictors of depressive symptoms in late life. Thus, we examined whether other more modifiable sources of individual differences such as self-efficacy and self-perceptions of aging would mediate the association between personality traits and depressive symptoms in older adults. METHOD: Data were obtained from 3,507 older adult participants who took part in the 2012 Health and Retirement Study. The "Big Five" personality traits, self-efficacy, aging perceptions, and depressive symptoms were assessed. Mediation analyses tested the hypothesis that self-efficacy and aging perceptions would mediate the relationship between personality traits and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: All five personality traits were significant predictors of depressive symptoms. Neuroticism was positively associated with depressive symptoms and had the greatest effect compared with the other personality traits. There was a significant indirect effect of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness on depressive symptoms (including both mediators). The mediating effect of aging perceptions on the relationship between neuroticism and depressive symptoms was the strongest compared with self-efficacy, accounting for approximately 80% of the total indirect effect. CONCLUSION: Our results provide support for interventions aimed at improving self-perceptions related to efficacy and aging in order to reduce depressive symptoms in older adults. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
