Stephanie M. Clancy Dollinger

PARTICIPATION IN A COURSE ON AGING: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND ANXIETY ABOUT AGING IN ONESELF AND OTHERS

Knowledge, anxiety, and attitudes about older adults and ones own aging were assessed in 256 college students. The Facts on Aging Quiz (Palmore, 1988), the Knowledge of Aging and the Elderly Quiz (Kline, Scialfa, Stier, & Babbitt, 1990), the Anxiety about Aging Scale (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993) and the Aging Semantic Differential (Rosencranz & McNevin, 1969) were administered at the end of the semester to students enrolled in an upper level psychology course on aging and students enrolled in an introductory psychology course (who had never had a course on aging). Comparisons of those finishing the psychology of aging course and those never having taken a course on aging revealed significant differences in knowledge of aging and the elderly and attitudes toward the average 70-year-old. Interestingly, the two groups of students did not differ in personal anxiety about aging and attitudes about ones own aging. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to attitudinal judgments of oneself versus others and the differential benefits of education for attitudes and anxiety about other old adults versus attitudes and anxiety about ones own aging.

Identity and Creativity

Emerging adulthood is a period for exploration of identity aspects including occupational identity, and creative activity may contribute to or result from this exploration. Grounded in several conceptions of identity, particularly that of Erik Erikson, this research tested the prediction that identity processes predict creativity. In 2 studies (N = 250), university students completed measures of identity (Berzonskys Identity Styles Inventory; Cheeks Aspects of Identity Questionnaire), plus creative potential (Creative Personality Scale), accomplishments (behavior checklist and open-ended listing), and products (drawings, stories). In keeping with prediction, these findings demonstrated that those who are information-seeking in style and emphasize their personal identity have the greatest potential creativity and evidence the greatest number of creative accomplishments in their young lives, whereas those emphasizing normative or collective identities evidenced fewer accomplishments. These identity variables contributed over and above the effects of gender and verbal ability. Results fit well with past findings in the creativity literature but represent a new direction for identity research and theory.

Individual differences in personality traits and anxiety about aging

The present study examined the relations between the Big Five Personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and anxiety about aging. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1989, 1992) and the Anxiety about Aging Scale (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993) were completed by 144 undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. As expected, a positive relation between neuroticism and overall anxiety about aging was observed. Anxiety about aging was inversely related to agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion and unrelated to openness to experience. Additionally, the Big Five Personality traits were differentially related to the four dimensions of anxiety about aging (anxiety about changes in physical appearance, fear of old people, psychological concerns, and anxiety about age-related losses). These results support the notion that anxiety about aging is related to individual differences in personality traits and suggest that certain aspects of anxiety about aging may be relatively stable and resistant to change.

MENTAL ROTATION PERFORMANCE: AGE, SEX AND VISUAL FIELD DIFFERENCES

Eighteen young (17–23 years) and 18 older (66–79 years) adults performed a mental rotation task under lateralized viewing conditions to compare the generalized versus right hemisphere decline hypothesis of neuropsychological aging. Although older adults exhibited slower reaction times and less accuracy than younger adults, visual field patterns were independent of age and sex. There was no evidence to indicate a selective decline with age in left hemisphere or right hemisphere processing ability during mental rotation performance. These results support the hypothesis that hemispheric changes in processing with age are not selective but are generalized across both hemispheres.

Individuality in Young and Middle Adulthood: An Autophotographic Study

Developmental theories and recent examinations of adult self descriptions across the life span (e.g., G. Labouvie-Vief, L. M. Chiodo, L. A. Goguen, M. Diehl & L. Orwoll, 1995a,b) indicate that the self becomes more unique, individualistic, and complex with age. We further examined this developmental trend, using autophotographic essays (words and photos answering the broad question “who are you”) obtained from 844 adults (ages 18–54). The essays were rated for levels of individuality or richness of self-depiction. That is, the photo essays were used as a medium for operationalizing self-construals that are uniquely creative, abstract, self-reflective, and multidimensional. The photo essays of middle-aged participants reflected more individuality than did those of younger participants. Correspondingly, we observed more photographs of achievement themes, religious sentiments, working, creative products, and negative affect in the middle-age photo essays but fewer photos of self-smiling, others smiling, alcohol, athletics, and music. Results provide further evidence for greater uniqueness, interiority, and seriousness of purpose—all suggestive of individuality—in adulthood.

Age and Skill Differences in the Processing Demands of Visual Inspection

Two experiments investigated the effects of age and domain-specific experience on the speed and accuracy of visual inspection performance. In Experiment 1, young (M age = 26.5 years) and middle-aged (M age = 45.7 years) medical laboratory technologists (MTs) and matched novices were tested on a domain-specific version and on a domain-general version of a probe recognition task. Middle-aged subjects were slower than younger subjects on both versions, and MTs were more accurate but slower than controls on the domain-specific task. In Experiment 2, MTs and controls were tested on the same tasks under single-task and dual-task conditions. Middle-aged adults were slower and less accurate than young adults under dual-task conditions in the general version. For the domain-specific version, the response times and error data suggested that skilled performance is less demanding of age-limited general-purpose processing resources.

Tele-help line for caregivers (TLC) : A comprehensive telehealth intervention for rural family caregivers

Abstract This article presents a brief overview of the literature on the unique and diverse needs of rural caregivers and issues related to the design and implementation of caregiving interventions in rural areas. The Tele-Help Line for Caregivers (TLC), a clinical telehealth intervention currently underway for rural caregivers, is described. A case example is presented, demonstrating the benefits of a telehealth intervention for the rural caregiver. Each component of the intervention is described and preliminary outcome data are discussed. Issues related to the applicability of the intervention for a racially/ethnically diverse group of caregivers are also addressed.

Education, Training, and Support for Rural Caregivers

Enabling individuals to live in the community despite health-care needs is an important and growing public policy concern. Providing services (preventive, support, remedial) for family caregivers is critical to the maintenance of care recipients’ health and well-being. Caregivers need a variety of knowledge and skills in order to be effective and, given the relative lack of services in rural areas, rural caregivers may have an even greater need for skills. Unfortunately, most of the interventions with caregivers have been tested on primarily urban samples. This chapter is an overview of the various education, training, and support needs that should be addressed in rural caregiver interventions and support programs as well as a consideration of the practice, research, training, and advocacy needs of rural caregivers.

Creativity and Identity

Abstract This chapter reviews theoretical and empirical contributions proposing a link between identity and creativity, a link commented upon by several writers, artists, and psychologists. In particular, we review the thinking of Erik and Joan Erikson, and research stimulated by Eriksonian theory, as well as research grounded in the “(inner–outer) location of identity” perspective. Studies of college students indicate that more creative individuals generally are invested in exploring and developing identity and are inner-directed in this quest; in contrast, their less creative peers are more conforming to family and peer group expectations for “who they are.” More recent studies on creative identity and creative role identity within Personnel and I/O Psychology are reviewed and suggestions are offered for the next generation of identity–creativity researchers.

Individual differences in visual search performance among medical technologists

Abstract Twenty female medical technologists were evaluated on measures of general intelligence, and visual search reaction time (RT). The individual differences measures used were the Picture Completion and Digit Span subtests from the Wechlers (1981) Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) and a computerized version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) (Kagan, Rosman, Day, Albert & Phillips, 1964). A skilled visual search and general visual search task were also administered. The skilled visual search task consisted of bacterial morphology typically encountered in a clinical pathology laboratory. The general visual search task consisted of displays containing geometric objects. The intercorrelation matrix revealed that RT on the MFFT was positively related to RT on both visual search tasks. Skilled visual search accuracy was negatively related to RT on the MFFT. Consistent with previous studies, Digit Span performance was not related to either visual search task. The relationship between RT and Picture Completion was moderated by the nature of the visual search task.