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Inspection time predicts individual differences in everyday functioning among elderly adults: Testing discriminant validity
Author(s) -
Gregory Tess,
Callaghan Adelaide,
Nettelbeck Ted,
Wilson Carlene
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2009.00366.x
Subject(s) - discriminant validity , baseline (sea) , activities of daily living , psychology , biomarker , everyday life , gerontology , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , psychometrics , psychiatry , biochemistry , oceanography , chemistry , political science , law , internal consistency , geology
Aim: Inspection time (IT) is a processing speed measure, recently investigated as a biomarker of ageing. This study examined whether earlier IT predicts subsequent problems in everyday functioning in community‐dwelling elderly people. Methods: Participants completed IT at baseline, 6 months and 18 months. At 42 months, two groups of 15 elderly people matched for education and age (74–88 years) and selected for slower or faster baseline IT, completed a fourth estimate of IT and a practical assessment of everyday functioning (Timed Instrumental Activities of Daily Living – Adelaide). Results: At 42 months, the group with slower baseline IT had significantly poorer performance (slower completion, higher errors) on more than half of the everyday functioning tasks. Conclusion: Slower IT predicts difficulties up to 4 years later in everyday functioning of elderly adults, providing discriminant validation for IT as a biomarker for future changes.