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P3‐490: EFFECTS OF EDUCATION, AGE AND GENDER ON CERAD TOTAL SCORE IN A SAMPLE OF YOUNG MEXICAN ADULTS
Author(s) -
Reyes Angélica Zuno,
Matute Esmeralda,
Dueñas Lourdes Ramírez
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.1854
Subject(s) - medicine , ceiling effect , dementia , population , cognitive impairment , gerontology , cognition , demography , psychology , disease , psychiatry , alternative medicine , environmental health , pathology , sociology
90 years (M1⁄462.4, SD1⁄421.4). Participants had an average education level of 14.9 (SD1⁄41.4) years. Measures included: (1) gender characteristicsBem’s Sex Role Inventory, (2) trait empathyInterpersonal Reactivity Index, measuring cognitive and emotional empathy, (3) state empathymeasuring emotional empathy in response to an empathy induction, and (4) prosocial behaviormonetary donation to a person in need in response to an empathy induction. Results:Self-reported femininity was positively correlated with trait cognitive empathy in older adults (r 1⁄4 .3, p < .05). Furthermore, older adults’ state emotional empathy in response to an empathy induction was positively correlated with androgynous (r1⁄4 .3, p< .01) and feminine (r1⁄4 .3, p< .01) characteristics. Older women gave greater monetary donations than older men in response to an empathy-inducing situation (p < .01). Conclusions:The results suggest that gender-related characteristics, in particular femininity and androgyny, may play an important or adaptive role in the maintenance of empathy and prosocial behavior in older adulthood. Furthermore, older adults’ behavior may reflect their motivation to prioritize experiences that bring them emotional meaning, as purported by the socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999). Future studies characterizing empathy and gender characteristics across the lifespan will lead to valuable insights about mechanisms for prosocial behavior in aging that is relevant to such fields as caregiving and volunteerism. References: Bailey, P. E., Henry, J. D., & Hippel, W. V. (2008). Empathy and social functioning in late adulthood. Aging & Mental Health, 12(4), 499-503. Beadle, J. N., Sheehan, A. H., Dahlben, B., & Gutchess, A. H. (2015). Aging, empathy, and prosociality. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 70(2), 213-222. Gale-Ross, R., Baird, A., & Towson, S. (2009). Gender role, life satisfaction, and wellness: Androgyny in a southwestern ontario sample. Canadian Journal on Aging /La Revue Canadienne Du Vieillissement, 28(2), 135-146. Carstensen, L., M. Isaacowitz, D., & Charles, S. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. The American Psychologist, 54, 81. Sze, J. A., Gyurak, A., Goodkind, M. S. & Levenson, R. W. (2012). Greater emotional empathy and prosocial behavior in late life. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 12(5), 1129-1140.