PerceptuaI and Motor Skills, 1990, 71, 1225-1226. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1990
PREDICTING NORMAL AGE-RELATED CHANGES W I T H INTELLIGENCE, PROJECTIVE, A N D PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR T E S T VARIABLES ' PATRICK MALONEY
Florissant Psychological Services Sf. Louis, Missouri
AND
EDWIN E . WAGNER
Forest Institute, Huntsuille, Alabama
Summary.-From four tests, the WAIS, Rorschach, Hand Test, and BenderGestalt, 67 variables were derived and used to predict age for 240 individuals. Ages with 48 subjects per group. ranged from 15 to 65 yr., divided into five ngc ~r~tervals, 36 variables correlating with age were further reduced to 12 by means of a stepwise multiple R. A final R of .73 was obtained, accounting for 53% of the variance. While variables from all four of these tests correlated with the criterion, most of the significant variance could be attributed to intellectual factors.
The present study concerns the over-all prediction of age-related changes from a life-span orientation, focusing on adult development rather than the end product or "old age," often defined as being over 65 years old. Schaie (1980) describes this type of research as commencing with a maturational asymptote (close to the early 20s) and then following the developmental sequence until the stage is reached at which the individuals being s t u d e d are still relatively free from any naturally occurring declines (no later than the early 70s). Consequently, the age groups in the present research included five decades of life beginning with persons in their early adulthood (15 to 24 y t ) and ending in late adulthood (55 to 65 yr.). All selected subjects were living in the community and ambulatory. Individuals with physical or sensory impairment that might affect performance on any of the tests were excluded. Persons with any type of CNS dysfunction (e.g., organic brain syndrome, cerebral palsy) were excluded. Groups were matched on sex, marital status, and modal years of education. From archival files of approximately 15,000 cases referred by the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR) for psychological assessment as part of eligibility determination, individuals selected for inclusion were free of severe physical or mental handicaps, living in the community, ambulatory, and presumably seelung employment, education, or training. The sample was comprised of 240 individuals whose ages were divided into five groups, each encompassing separate age intervals. Each subject had been administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Hand Test, Rorschach's Psychodiagnostic Test, and the Bender Visual-motor Gestalt Test.
'Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Edwin E. Wagner, Dean, Forest Institute, 2611 Leeman Ferry Road, Huntsville, AL 35801.
1226
P MALONEY & E. E. WAGNER
From the four instruments a total of 67 variables were derived. These variables were correlated with age and those which showed significant association were then extracted for a post hoe multiple linear regression with age as the criterion. From among these 67 variables correlated with age, 36 were significant, roughly 11 times the number to be expected by chance. When entered into a stepwise multiple R , 12 variables were retained before reaching the F test cut-off criterion of alpha = .OS. Collectively, these variables produced a multiple R of .73, accounting for a substantial amount of variance (53%). Three WAIS variables accounted for 43 7% of the variance attributable to age. While a large number of projective test variables correlated with age, they did not add much to the multiple R beyond what was achieved by intelligence test scores. I n evaluating these results i t should be cautioned that the current analysis was based on a sample living in a community and the older ages were truncated relative to those in many other studies of aging. Inclusion of older, more deteriorated subjects would probably have brought other predictor variables to the fore, particularly those characteristically associated with psychopathology. REFERENCE S c m , K. W. (1980) Intelligence and ~roblemsolving. In J. E. Birren & R. B. Sloane (Eds.), Handbook of mental health and aging. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Pp. 262-284. Accepted December 5, 1990.
PREDICTING NORMAL AGE-RELATED CHANGES W I T H INTELLIGENCE, PROJECTIVE, A N D PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR T E S T VARIABLES ' PATRICK MALONEY
Florissant Psychological Services Sf. Louis, Missouri
AND
EDWIN E . WAGNER
Forest Institute, Huntsuille, Alabama
Summary.-From four tests, the WAIS, Rorschach, Hand Test, and BenderGestalt, 67 variables were derived and used to predict age for 240 individuals. Ages with 48 subjects per group. ranged from 15 to 65 yr., divided into five ngc ~r~tervals, 36 variables correlating with age were further reduced to 12 by means of a stepwise multiple R. A final R of .73 was obtained, accounting for 53% of the variance. While variables from all four of these tests correlated with the criterion, most of the significant variance could be attributed to intellectual factors.
The present study concerns the over-all prediction of age-related changes from a life-span orientation, focusing on adult development rather than the end product or "old age," often defined as being over 65 years old. Schaie (1980) describes this type of research as commencing with a maturational asymptote (close to the early 20s) and then following the developmental sequence until the stage is reached at which the individuals being s t u d e d are still relatively free from any naturally occurring declines (no later than the early 70s). Consequently, the age groups in the present research included five decades of life beginning with persons in their early adulthood (15 to 24 y t ) and ending in late adulthood (55 to 65 yr.). All selected subjects were living in the community and ambulatory. Individuals with physical or sensory impairment that might affect performance on any of the tests were excluded. Persons with any type of CNS dysfunction (e.g., organic brain syndrome, cerebral palsy) were excluded. Groups were matched on sex, marital status, and modal years of education. From archival files of approximately 15,000 cases referred by the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR) for psychological assessment as part of eligibility determination, individuals selected for inclusion were free of severe physical or mental handicaps, living in the community, ambulatory, and presumably seelung employment, education, or training. The sample was comprised of 240 individuals whose ages were divided into five groups, each encompassing separate age intervals. Each subject had been administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Hand Test, Rorschach's Psychodiagnostic Test, and the Bender Visual-motor Gestalt Test.
'Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Edwin E. Wagner, Dean, Forest Institute, 2611 Leeman Ferry Road, Huntsville, AL 35801.
1226
P MALONEY & E. E. WAGNER
From the four instruments a total of 67 variables were derived. These variables were correlated with age and those which showed significant association were then extracted for a post hoe multiple linear regression with age as the criterion. From among these 67 variables correlated with age, 36 were significant, roughly 11 times the number to be expected by chance. When entered into a stepwise multiple R , 12 variables were retained before reaching the F test cut-off criterion of alpha = .OS. Collectively, these variables produced a multiple R of .73, accounting for a substantial amount of variance (53%). Three WAIS variables accounted for 43 7% of the variance attributable to age. While a large number of projective test variables correlated with age, they did not add much to the multiple R beyond what was achieved by intelligence test scores. I n evaluating these results i t should be cautioned that the current analysis was based on a sample living in a community and the older ages were truncated relative to those in many other studies of aging. Inclusion of older, more deteriorated subjects would probably have brought other predictor variables to the fore, particularly those characteristically associated with psychopathology. REFERENCE S c m , K. W. (1980) Intelligence and ~roblemsolving. In J. E. Birren & R. B. Sloane (Eds.), Handbook of mental health and aging. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Pp. 262-284. Accepted December 5, 1990.
