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Older alcoholics: Profile of decline
Author(s) -
Hamblin D. Kim,
Harrison William R.,
Hyer Lee A.,
Carson Mary F.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198411)40:6<1510::aid-jclp2270400642>3.0.co;2-x
Subject(s) - psychology , chronic alcoholic , test (biology) , population , visual memory , clinical psychology , cognition , audiology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , demography , medicine , paleontology , biology , sociology
Administered to 235 chronic alcoholics in an inpatient setting a standard psychological test battery 2 weeks after admission. Two analyses were calculated: A correlational analysis between age and the test variables and a comparison analysis between a younger (<50) and an older group. Results suggest that visual‐spatial and constructional tasks, newer learning tasks, and secondary memory (and memory delay) show a more pronounded decline than do verbal or “left hemisphere” tasks. A sub‐analysis of 30 younger and 30 older psychiatric patients further revealed that alcohol asserts a significant influence on decline in complex abstract tasks and on visual‐spatial tasks (age is also a significant factor on visual‐spatial tasks). This study re‐validated previous findings using a more chronic alcohol population with standard psychological tests in a clinical setting.