Jeanne C. Mellinger

Forgetting rates in modality memory for young, mid-life, and older women.

A mixed-modality (visual and auditory) continuous recognition task, followed immediately by a final recognition test, was administered to young (18-23 years), mid-life (38-50 years), and older (60-74 years) women. Subjects gave recognition responses for both the words and their presentation modality. Although older adults remembered less information about input mode than did the two younger groups, the age decrement was not the result of faster forgetting of such information by the elderly. When a ceiling effect at the initial lag was taken into account, forgetting rates for both words and input mode were comparable across the adult life span.

Personality Correlates of Age and Life Roles in Adult Women

The association between age/family stage, career role, and personality traits was studied using a multivariate statistical approach. Young adult, midlife, and older women from four role groups—homemaker, married career, single career, and student—were compared on a number of personality measures including achievement motivation, affiliation, autonomy, cultural sex role characteristics, self esteem, and adjustment. While some of the expected group differences did not appear, some significant age and role differences were found. Older women showed less achievement motivation and had a greater need for affiliation than young adult and midlife women. Career women had a more internalized locus of control than homemakers and students. When age and role were considered together, the age-role groups were differentiated on autonomy, femininity, and adjustment. There were no differences between either age or role groups on measures of self-esteem, well-being, socialization, or other personality variables.

A comparison of different aspects of self-concept for young, middle-aged, and older women.

Previous research that focused on self-esteem in adult women has yielded a variety of contradictory results, with some studies that report more positive self-concepts in the middle-aged in comparison to older and younger women and others that report the opposite. Similar conflicting findings have been presented for women over 60. This study compared women in four age groups: 18 to 22, 29 to 39, 40 to 55, and 60 to 75 on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, which yields self-esteem scores on different life aspects such as family relations, morality, and physical self as well as a general self-esteem measure. The age groups did not differ significantly in overall level of self-esteem, but they could be discriminated on the more specific aspects of self-concept; the 40- to 55-year-olds reported more positive feelings about themselves in their family relations and morality than did the 18 to 22 year olds. Women over 60, compared to the other age groups, showed more defensiveness and also gave responses more similar to a diagnosed psychotic group.

A Comparison of Sex Role and Related Personality Traits in Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Women:

Self-descriptions on sex role characteristics and related personality traits including achievement and affiliation were compared in four age groups of women: eighteen to twenty-two, twenty-nine to thirty-nine, forty to fifty-five, and sixty to seventy-five year-olds. In general, the two younger groups emerged as least like the traditional feminine sex role stereotype. In comparison to the older women, they were more willing to ascribe masculine sex role characteristics to themselves and rated themselves as less responsible, self-controlled, and affiliative. Conversely, the women over sixty and homemakers in their forties and fifties adhered most strongly to the conventional feminine traits. These differences are explained in terms of the recent changes in societal attitudes toward sex roles. There is also some evidence that significant life roles are related to self-descriptions on these personality dimensions.

Personality Traits of Mature Women in Student versus Homemaker Roles.

Summary Two equal groups of mature American women (total N = 80, aged 29 to 55 years), one composed of those returning to school and the other composed of those choosing to remain full-time homemakers, were compared on personality measures of sex role, self-esteem, and achievement motivation. Future life plans were also assessed. Although homemakers in comparison to the students described themselves as more feminine, they did not exhibit lower self-esteem or less achievement motivation, as had been predicted. The results suggest that mature women students may be more flexible in their sex role identities and less tied to a nurturant, interpersonally oriented role but that they are not necessarily more ambitious, confident, or achievement-oriented than homemakers.

Characteristics of elderly participants in three types of leisure groups.

145 participants in three types of programs for elderly persons were compared on leisure activities, attitudes toward leisure, social contacts, morale, and demographic variables. The results of discriminant function analyses indicate that older adults participating in RSVP (n = 30), recreation programs (n = 45), and nutrition programs (n = 70) differed in significant ways. Volunteers were highly active, service-oriented people who had fewer social contacts and placed less value on social activities. Recreation group members were sociable, fairly active people with stable living arrangements, who valued friendship and social contacts. Nutrition group members also valued social contacts, but they were much less active, experienced more difficulties with transportation and sensory-motor problems, and appeared to have somewhat lower morale. The patterns observed in the three programs were quite distinct. Development of future programs for elderly persons can be guided by avoiding duplication of service among existing programs and by focusing on possible need patterns of non-participating elderly.

Reentry Women After Graduation

Abstract Reentry women (M age, 42.2 years) were compared with younger women (M age, 25.8 years) on a survey conducted 2 to 6 years after their graduation from college. A total of 451 graduates responded to questions about education and employment activities, job satisfaction, and leisure pursuits. Discriminant function analyses revealed clear-cut differences between the two age groups and also among the six age/marital groups (single, married, and formerly married). The great majority of these reentry women were found to be employed outside the home and to be earning significantly higher salaries than their younger counterparts. Of the six age/marital groups, both single and married reentry women rated themselves highest in job satisfaction; this greater satisfaction appeared to be based on feelings of accomplishment and autonomy.

Cognitive effort in modality retrieval by young and older adults.

A secondary task methodology was used to determine whether the retrieval of modality information is more cognitively effortful for older adults than younger ones. Young (M age = 20 years) and older (M age = 68 years) adults were asked to learn a mixed modality (auditory and visual) list of nouns. During recall of words and modality, subjects were asked to respond to a randomly presented light signal. Cognitive effort for the primary task (recall) was measured by interference with the signal detection task. Adding a modality identification task to word retrieval did not significantly increase cognitive effort for either age group, although young adults were better at both word and modality recall and word recall itself was more effortful for older adults. Results suggest that age decements in modality learning cannot be explained by greater cognitive effort during retrieval of information about modality.

Religious Correlates of Hogan's Survey of Ethical Attitudes

The scores of 102 undergraduates on Hogans Survey of Ethical Attitudes were correlated with an author-devised measure of religious identification, religious upbringing, political attitudes, and socioeconomic background. Personality traits as assessed by the 16 PF were also measured. A factor analysis of questionnaire and personality variables produced factor scores which were then used in a multiple regression to predict survey scores. The best predictor of a moral positivist stance was a factor of current church affiliation combined with a conscientious personality. The second strong factor predicting moral positivism was a factor including a conservative political attitude combined with a well-to-do family background. Weaker predictors of moral positivism were an emotionally stable personality and an upbringing with less emphasis on religion.