Morris A. Okun

Adult age and cautiousness in decision. A review of the literature

After a brief description of the hypotheses proposed to account for adult-age differences in cautiousness, this article reviews findings from eight cross-sectional investigations. Adult-age differences were observed on the choice dilemmas instrument (the predominant methodology) only in the case when adults were permitted to refrain from responding to the life situations depicted in the items. In recent research, using behavioral measures of risk-taking, adult-age differences have been found. Need for achievement was posited to be an important intervening variable in understanding the context in which adult age differences in cautiousness emerge. Several areas of pertinent research were identified.

Predictors of Volunteer Status in a Retirement Community

In the present study, actual volunteers, latent volunteers, conditional volunteers, and definite nonvolunteers living in a retirement community are compared on social-structural, role, environmental, resource, lifestyle, and individual difference variables. Three functions emerged from the discriminant analysis. Actual volunteers attend church frequently, are free of activity limitations due to health, have volunteered previously, and belong to several clubs and organizations. Latent volunteers engage in informal religious behaviors, attend church about once a month, are about seventy years old (i.e., they are younger than the other groups), and are very satisfied with their neighborhood. Conditional volunteers engage infrequently in informal religious behavior, have no instrumental activity limitations due to health, did not attend college, have very high neighborhood satisfaction, and are seventy-four years old (i.e., older than latent volunteers and actual volunteers). Implications for recruiting latent and conditional volunteers are discussed.

Age differences in college values and perceived quality of college life

Research on age differences in college student satisfaction has not yielded consistent findings and has not been guided by theoretical frameworks. The present study investigated the influence of age, college values, and their interaction on perceived quality of college life. A convenience sample was drawn of 121 students enrolled in four sections of an introductory psychology course at a community college located in a metropolitan area in the Southwest. Partial responses resulted in an effective sample size of 113. Perceived quality of college life increased linearly with age. Older students valued quality of education more, and social life less, than young students. Valuing working conditions was inversely related to perceived quality of college life. When college values were statistically partialed out, the effect of age on perceived quality of college life was not significant. No evidence was found that the relationship between college values and perceived quality of college life varied with age.

The Perception of Outcome-Effort Covariation in Younger and Older Men.

The subjects, 21 younger (average CA = 18.95, SD = 1.13) and 21 older (average CA = 68.62, SD = 4.75) men, participated in a bogus convergent‐thinking task in which they rated their effort expenditure after experiencing varying degrees of success. It was proposed that younger, but not older men would exhibit outcome‐effort covariation. As predicted, results indicated that younger, but not older men perceived that they tried harder when they succeeded relative to when they failed. The findings imply that the older mens lack of outcome‐effort covariation has inimical consequences for their learning in contexts where initial failure experiences are likely. “Attribution retraining” was suggested as a potential intervention strategy. Research with older adults is advocated to examine whether causal ascription of failure to lack of effort is related to persistence at the task.

Misuse of analysis of covariance in aging research revisited

Storandt and Hudsons treatment of the issue of which general linear model technique is preferable to use when age effects are confounded is misleading. Contrary to their position that hierarchical ANOVA or step-wise multiple regression is superior to ANCOVA, it is demonstrated, using hypothetical data, that identical amounts of variance can be explained by ANCOVA relative to hierarchical ANOVA and multiple regression. Multiple regression is recommended as the most appropriate technique for a variety of pragmatic reasons concerning calculation of significance tests, the distinction between gross and net effects, and the choice of the metric used in measurement.