Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2002 Mar;17(1):101-115.
doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.17.1.101.

Well- and ill-defined measures of everyday cognition: relationship to older adults' intellectual ability and functional status

Jason C Allaire  1 , Michael Marsiske  2
Affiliations

Well- and ill-defined measures of everyday cognition: relationship to older adults' intellectual ability and functional status

Jason C Allaire et al. Psychol Aging. 2002 Mar.

Abstract

The present study examined 2 approaches to the measurement of everyday cognition in older adults. Measures differing in the degree of structure offered for solving problems in the domains of medication use, financial management, and food preparation and nutrition were administered to a sample of 130 community-dwelling older adults ranging in age from 60 to 90 (M = 73 years, SD = 7.02 years). Well-defined and ill-defined everyday problem-solving measures, which varied in the amount of means-end-related information provided to participants, were used. The study found that (a) well- and ill-defined measures were moderately interrelated, (b) the 2 approaches were differentially related to basic cognitive abilities, and (c) together the 2 approaches explained over half of the variance in older adults' everyday instrumental functioning and were in fact better predictors of everyday functioning than traditional psychometric cognitive measures. Discussion focuses on the differential importance of both methods for assessing older adults' everyday cognitive functioning.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predictive relationships between basic abilities and everyday cognition. ECB = Everyday Cognition Battery. * p <.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prediction of individual differences in everyday functioning. ECB = Everyday Cognition Battery. * p < .05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Akaike H. Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika. 1987;52:317–332.
    1. Allaire JC. Unpublished master’s thesis. Wayne State University; Detroit, MI: 1998. Investigating the antecedents of everyday cognition: The creation of a new measure.
    1. Allaire JC, Marsiske M. Everyday cognition: Age and intellectual ability correlates. Psychology and Aging. 1999;14:627–644. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baltes MM, Mayr U, Borchelt M, Maas I, Wilms HU. Everyday competence in old and very old age: An inter-disciplinary perspective. Ageing and Society. 1993;13:657–680.
    1. Baltes PB, Mayer KU, editors. The Berlin Aging Study: Aging from 70 to 100. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999.

Publication types