Kelli J. Klebe

Conservation of resources and coping self-efficacy predicting distress following a natural disaster: A causal model analysis where the environment meets the mind

Abstract Disaster research has increasingly examined how personal characteristics mediate emotional recovery following disaster exposure. We investigated the importance of lost resources, coping self-efficacy, and coping behavior as important variables in acute disaster reaction and medium range disaster recovery following Hurricane Andrew. One hundred and eighty participants living in southern Dade county completed the initial phase of the study (1–4 months post-hurricane), with 135 individuals completing the second wave (8–12 months post-hurricane). Results confirmed that lost resources, coping self-efficacy, and coping behavior are important in understanding psychological reactivity following a natural disaster. These variables together provided the best fitted causal model for describing psychological reactions to the hurricane over time. Results are discussed in relation to how coping self-efficacy may serve as an important intra-personal factor that mediates how lost resources are managed and how ef...

A ten-year longitudinal examination of repetition priming, incidental recall, free recall, and recognition in young and elderly

The effects of age and time on nondeclarative and declarative memory in young and elderly were examined in a 10-year longitudinal study using tests of word-stem priming, incidental recall, free recall, and recognition. The elderly were significantly impaired on all tests, but no reliable longitudinal decrement by the elderly was detected for priming, incidental recall,or recognition. The elderly demonstrated a significant longitudinal decline in declarative memory as assessed by a test of free recall. While nondeclarative memory declines with age, the longitudinal findings are consistent with the view that declarative memory is more susceptible to the effects of aging.

Utility of the SLUMS as a Cognitive Screening Tool Among a Nonveteran Sample of Older Adults

OBJECTIVES To investigate the concurrent validity of the Saint Louis University Mental Status examination (SLUMS) by comparing the ability of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the SLUMS to predict performance on standard neuropsychological measures of memory and executive functioning. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING University-based research clinic. PARTICIPANTS Community-dwelling adults (N = 170) age 60 years and older (Mage = 73.08; SD = 8.18). MEASUREMENTS The Trail Making Test (TMT), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), MMSE, and SLUMS. RESULTS The distributional properties of the SLUMS and the MMSE were directly compared. The SLUMS showed statistically a smaller mean, lower rank scores, and less skewness than the MMSE. Comparisons of the correlations of the screening tests with the neuropsychological measures indicated that the SLUMS demonstrated stronger relationships with the TMT compared with the MMSE. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the ability of the SLUMS and the MMSE to predict scores on common neuropsychological tests after controlling for demographic variables. Results demonstrated that the SLUMS significantly predicted performance across all measures over the MMSE and demographic variables, with the exception of the WCSTs perseverative errors. However, the MMSE does not add to the prediction of neuropsychological functioning over the SLUMS. CONCLUSION Although the SLUMS and the MMSE are strongly correlated, the SLUMS significantly adds to the prediction of neuropsychological measures beyond the MMSE scores. Our findings suggest that the SLUMS may be an appropriate measure to use as a screening tool among older adults and may have fewer ceiling effects than the MMSE.

Religiousness, social support and reasons for living in African American and European American older adults: an exploratory study.

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between religiousness, perceived social support, and reasons for living among European American (n = 37; M age = 67.7 years) and African American (n = 35; M age = 71.1 years) older adults, where ethnicity was predicted to behave as a moderator. Method: Community-dwelling participants completed the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality, the Multidimensional Measure of Perceived Social Support, and the Reasons for Living Inventory. Results: As expected, high religiousness was associated with more reasons for living. Ethnicity alone did not meaningfully account for variance differences in reasons for living, but significant interactions indicated that the relationship between religiousness and reasons for living was stronger for African Americans, whereas the relationship between social support and reasons for living was stronger for European Americans. Conclusion: The present findings may be valuable for understanding potentially modifiable pathways to suicide resilience in diverse populations of older adults.

Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

OBJECTIVES This study evaluated the structure and validity of the use of the 18-item Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ-18), a measure of thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB), among older adults. METHOD Community-dwelling older adults (N = 284; mean age = 73 years; age range = 64-96 years; 56% women) anonymously completed a questionnaire packet. RESULTS Principal axis factor analysis indicated that two factors should be retained. Items in the first factor reflected the concept of TB, whereas items in the second factor were consistent with the concept of PB. Both factors had medium-to-large positive correlations with hopelessness, depression, suicide ideation, and low meaning in life, providing evidence for convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS Findings from this study support the use of the INQ-18 among community-dwelling older adults.

Age Effects on Emotion Recognition in Facial Displays: From 20 to 89 Years of Age

Background/Study Context: An emotion recognition task that morphs emotional facial expressions from an initial neutral expression to distinct increments of the full emotional expression was administered to 482 individuals, 20 to 89 years of age. Methods: Participants assessed six basic emotions at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the full facial expression. Results: Participants in the three oldest age groups (60s, 70s, and 80s) demonstrated decreased performance for the recognition of the fear, anger, and sad emotions. Increased age was associated with increased recognition rates for the disgust expression, whereas no age effect was detected for the happy and surprise expressions. Covariate analyses revealed age effects were reduced by processing speed, but were unaffected by decision-making ability. The effects of age on individual emotions and levels of presentation are discussed. Conclusion: These findings suggest that age has the greatest impact on the recognition of the sad emotion and the greatest age effect at the 50% level of presentation across the adult life span.

A simple Gauss-Newton procedure for covariance structure analysis with high-level computer languages

An implementation of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for the analysis of covariance structures that is specifically adapted for high-level computer languages is reviewed. With this procedure one need only describe the structural form of the population covariance matrix, and provide a sample covariance matrix and initial values for the parameters. The gradient and approximate Hessian, which vary from model to model, are computed numerically. Using this approach, the entire method can be operationalized in a comparatively small program. A large class of models can be estimated, including many that utilize functional relationships among the parameters that are not possible in most available computer programs. Some examples are provided to illustrate how the algorithm can be used.

Subjective Organization, Verbal Learning, and Forgetting Across the Life Span: From 5 to 89

Background/Study Context: Previous tests of the relationship between subjective organization during encoding, aging, and recall have produced inconsistent findings. The present study investigates subjective organization and the acquisition and recall of verbal material across the life span (from 5 to 89 years of age) using two measures, the intertrial repetition paired frequency (PF) measure and the unidirectional subjective organization (SO) measure. Methods: Participants (N = 2656) were administered a version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, including a delayed recall trial. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to examine the relationship between age and subjective organization and between age and recall. Mediation and growth curve analyses were performed to further examine the relationship between age, verbal acquisition, and subjective organization. Results: Subjective organization was not predictive of verbal forgetting. Deficits in verbal acquisition and subjective organization were detected among children and elderly adults. Mediational analyses showed that age affected the number of words recalled as well as subjective organization, and that subjective organization affected the number of words recalled in children, young adults and elderly. Latent growth curve modeling suggests that increases in subjective organization over time are related to increases in recall over time for each age group. Conclusion: Subjective organization is predictive of recall, and both subjective organization and recall are lowest among children and elderly individuals. Age has direct effects on recall but this effect is partially mediated by subjective organization. Brain imaging studies showing increased prefrontal cortex activation during encoding of remembered words bolster our findings that age affects the relationship between verbal learning and organization of material during encoding.

The detection of simulated malingering using a computerized category classification test

A category classification test was used to differentiate between normal student control participants, students instructed to malinger a memory deficit, and amnesic patients. Controls (N = 44) and amnesic patients (N = 10) were instructed to do their best, while simulators of malingering (N = 43) were instructed to fake a memory deficit for credit and possible financial compensation. Participants studied a list of high distortions of a prototype dot pattern and were then asked to choose whether or not a new set of dot patterns (random patterns, high distortions, low distortions, and the prototype) belonged to the same category of dot patterns as studied. Malingerers performed significantly worse than normal controls and amnesic patients. A discriminant function analysis showed that the classification test can be used to correctly classify participants as simulated malingerers, controls, or amnesic patients significantly higher than chance. These results indicate that a category classification test can be used in the detection of simulated malingering and that some tests of implicit memory provide a potential supplement to standard forced choice tests in the detection of malingering.

Views of Hospice and Palliative Care Among Younger and Older Sexually Diverse Women

The aim of the present study was to explore end-of-life health care attitudes among younger and older sexually diverse women. Self-identified lesbian and heterosexual older women as well as lesbian and heterosexual middle-aged women were recruited. Results indicated that lesbian women held significantly more positive beliefs about hospice services and the role of alternative medicines in health care. No differences among sexual orientation were found for comfort discussing pain management but heterosexual women reported a significantly greater desire for life-sustaining treatments in the event of an incurable disease and severe life-limiting conditions (eg, feeding tube, life support, no brain response). Additionally, as expected, older women in this study held more positive beliefs about hospice and more comfort discussing pain management than middle-aged women.