Biomedical subjects

S K Whitbourne

Publications and source records attributed to S K Whitbourne.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Psychosocial development in adulthood: a 22-year sequential study.

Data supporting the notion of adult personality stability are challenged by the present findings, in which developmental change was demonstrated using the Eriksonian-stage-based Inventory of Psychosocial Development (IPD; Constantinople, 1969). A sequential design over the ages 20-42 was used on 2 cohorts of college students and alumni originally tested in 1966 and 1976-1977 (ns in 1988 = 99 and 83, respectively), and a 3rd cohort of college students in 1988-1989 (n = 292). Results of longitudinal, cross-sectional, and sequential analyses challenged ideas about personality stability, with evidence of increasingly favorable resolutions of the early Eriksonian psychosocial stages up through the oldest age studied. There was evidence of a trend over the past decade toward less favorable resolution of ego integrity versus despair. The findings were interpreted in terms of developmental change processes during the adult years interacting with culturally based environmental effects on psychosocial development.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

Age differences and correlates of worrying in young and elderly adults.

A cross-sectional investigation compared worry and its correlates in elderly people (N = 89) and in college students (N = 74). Consistent with prediction, the elderly adults expressed significantly fewer worries than the college students about finances and social events. Both groups were equally worried about health issues. The elderly scored higher on the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale, scored in the external direction on the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale, and were more oriented toward the past and present than the future. Worry in the elderly was related to less favorable attitudes toward the future, and among college students worry was related to negative attitudes toward the present. For both age groups, an external locus of control was associated with higher worry scores.

Aged↗

PubMed1991

Identity processes and perceptions of the life span in chronic mental patients.

This study was an exploratory investigation of identity and life-span perceptions in a sample of thirty-seven chronic mental patients, ranging from twenty-three to sixty-four years of age, using the "life drawing," a projective technique. Age differences were found in the adaptation of identity to the life experiences associated with mental illness. Individuals less than thirty years old were more likely to adopt a "patient identity"; in contrast, the over-forty years-old adapted to their illness through denial. These differences held regardless of psychiatric diagnosis, suggesting a process of identity adaptation more general than is implied in mental disorder diagnostic systems.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Ageism in undergraduate psychology texts.

A sample of 139 texts written over the past 40 years was analyzed for evidence of ageism (i.e., lack of attention to the psychology of later life and stereotyping of older adults). More recent texts cover the topic more comprehensively than in the past, but this coverage is limited in depth. Although textbook authors appear to be trying to communicate a positive message about aging and older persons, their efforts are compromised by ambivalence in the form of contradictory statements about the nature of the aging process. There is an unfortunate condensation of sources in recent texts, which draw heavily from a small cluster of authorities. Implications of these findings for the larger textbook enterprise are discussed.

Aging↗

PubMed1978

Adult age differences in reflection-impulsivity.

Adult age differences in reflection-impulsivity were examined on a modified version of Kagan's adult Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF). The sample consisted of 20 elderly adults (mean age = 70.6) and 20 young adults (mean age = 21.9), each of whom was administered the modified MFF by an adult examiner. On half of the 24 items, the original (i.e., the standard) was present among the four alternatives ("original present" condition), while on the other half, all the alternatives were variants of the standard ("original not present" condition). The elderly subjects were generally more impulsive (had shorter latencies and committed more errors) than were the young adults. The results, though, varied somewhat with the two stimulus conditions employed. An analysis of the mean scores of both age groups indicated that the elderly took less time to respond only in the "original present" condition. A higher number of errors was observed for the older group in both conditions, and both age groups had fewer errors in the "original present" condition. Possible interpretations of these findings, in terms of age group differences in search strategy, anxiety, and other aspects of decision style are offered, and implications for further research are provided.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1978

Cognitive egocentrism in institutionalized adult males.

Spatial egocentrism and its relationships to discrimination ability and communicative egocentrism were investigated in a sample of 80 adult males from a single institutional setting. The participants ranged in age from 33 to 83 years. As predicted, no significant age differences were obtained on any of the three dependent measures. However, significant effects of order of task presentation indicated that the experimental procedure influenced performance on the spatial and communicative egocentrism and discrimination tasks. The findings, which provide support for the Piagetian position of maintenance of operational level through the life-span, were discussed in terms of social and affective factors which may influence adult performance on cognitive tasks.

Adult↗

PubMed1976

Test anxiety in elderly and young adults.

Test anxiety in elderly and young adult college students was measured by the Anxiety Achievement Test following a free-recall memory experiment. As expected, the elderly had higher levels of debilitating test anxiety than the younger adults. A large proportion of older persons showed behavioural manifestations of test anxiety either by refusing to participate in the study, or by their reactions during the testing. Test anxiety was related to memory performance among both age groups, suggesting than an older person's performance on a cognitive task may be influenced by affective reactions to the testing situation itself.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Beyond despair and disengagement: a transactional model of personality development in later life.

It is argued that ego analytic, disengagement, and symbolic interaction theories of personality share an insufficient consideration of the dynamics of the interaction between developmental and social forces transpiring during the aging period. An alternative, transactional model is proposed, positing that the effects of the environment to which the elderly person is subject are the product of: (1) the people and settings comprising that environment and (2) the manner in which the individual acts upon and is acted upon by these people and settings. The model highlights the need for research in which present behavioral and environmental events assume as much importance as past ones.

Adaptation, Psychological↗