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Cognitive functioning and neuroticism in elderly psychiatric patients
Person. it&id. DID Vol. 14, No. 1. pp. 265-266, Printed in Great Britain. AI1 rights reserved
Cognitive
1993
0191-8869/93
S5.00 + 0.00 Press Ltd
Copyright 0 1992Pergamon
functioning and neuroticism in elderly psychiatric patients PAUL R. PEARSON
Psychology
Department,
West Suffolk Hospital, Hardwick Suffolk IP33 2Q2, England (Received
17 March
Lane, Bury St Ea?nuna!s,
1992)
Summary-Ninety-four elderly female psychiatric patients completed the short form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Information/Orientation and Mental Ability tests of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly. Counter to the hypothesis, Neuroticism was found to be positively related to Information/Orientation. Psychoticism was found to be negatively related to Information/Orientation.
INTRODUCTION The development of Eysenck’s personality theory (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985) had its empirical foundations laid within the context of psychiatric disorder (Eysenck, 1947). Neuroticism anxiety and performance have been discussed by Eysenck and Eysenck (1985) who conclude that high levels of anxiety disrupt the ability of the individual to function but stress that task difficulty must be seen as a multidimensional construct and note discrepancies which have appeared in the literature. The present study examines the relationship of neuroticism to cognitive functioning in elderly psychiatric patients with the hypothesis that the relationship is negative.
METHOD Ninety four female psychiatric day hospital patients over the age of 65, suffering from anxiety and depression were administered the short form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985) and the Information/Orientation (I/O) and Mental Ability (Mab) tests of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE; Pattie & Gilleard, 1979).
RESULTS The results are presented in Table 1 which shows the means and standard deviations for Eysenck’s personality dimensions: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), and Psychoticism (P) and for the I/O and Mab tests of the CAPE. Product moment correlations are presented for the personality and cognitive measures in Table 2.
DISCUSSION
N was found to be positively related, and P negatively related to the I/O subtest of the CAPE. No relationship was found between N and Mab. The fact that individuals with high levels of N were better orientated and informed ran counter to the hypothesis, a finding that was all the more surprising in an elderly psychiatric group. Clearly further examination of the relationship between cognitive functioning and personality measures in normal elderly groups is required (Costa, Fozard, McCrae & Bossi, 1976; Hooper, Hooper & Colbert, 1984; Hayslip, 1988).
Table I. Means and standard deviations for N. E, P, I/O and Mab for 94 elderly female psychiatric patients N
E
P
M
SD
M
SD
7.00
3.42
5.38
3.30
Mab
I/G
-SD
I .49
2.17
M
SD
M
SD
8.39
3.24
9.76
1.73
Table 2.
Product moment correlations for P, E, N and I/O and Mab scores for 94 elderly psychiatric oatients N
I/O Mab
+ 0.24’ f0.04
E -0.11 -0.00
‘P < 0.05.
265
P -0.23* to.07
NOTES AND SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS
266
REFERENCES
Costa, P. T., Fozard, J. L., McCrae, R. R. & Boss& R. (1976). Relations of age and personality dimensions to cognitive ability factors. Journal of Gerontology, 31, 663-669. Eysenck, H. J. (1947). Dimensions of Personality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and indiuidual differences. New York: Plenum Press. Eysenck, S. B. G., Eysenck, H. J. & Barrett, P. (1985). A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences,
6, 21-29.
Hayslip, B. Jr (1988). Personality-ability relationships in aged adults. Journal of Gerontology, 43, 79-84. Hooper, F. H., Hooper, J. 0. & Colbert, K. K. (1984). Personality and memory correlates of intellectual functioning: young adulthood to old age. New York: Karger. Pattie, A. H. & Gilleard, C. J. (1979). Manual of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE). Sevenoaks, England: Hodder and Stoughton.
Cognitive
1993
0191-8869/93
S5.00 + 0.00 Press Ltd
Copyright 0 1992Pergamon
functioning and neuroticism in elderly psychiatric patients PAUL R. PEARSON
Psychology
Department,
West Suffolk Hospital, Hardwick Suffolk IP33 2Q2, England (Received
17 March
Lane, Bury St Ea?nuna!s,
1992)
Summary-Ninety-four elderly female psychiatric patients completed the short form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Information/Orientation and Mental Ability tests of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly. Counter to the hypothesis, Neuroticism was found to be positively related to Information/Orientation. Psychoticism was found to be negatively related to Information/Orientation.
INTRODUCTION The development of Eysenck’s personality theory (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985) had its empirical foundations laid within the context of psychiatric disorder (Eysenck, 1947). Neuroticism anxiety and performance have been discussed by Eysenck and Eysenck (1985) who conclude that high levels of anxiety disrupt the ability of the individual to function but stress that task difficulty must be seen as a multidimensional construct and note discrepancies which have appeared in the literature. The present study examines the relationship of neuroticism to cognitive functioning in elderly psychiatric patients with the hypothesis that the relationship is negative.
METHOD Ninety four female psychiatric day hospital patients over the age of 65, suffering from anxiety and depression were administered the short form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985) and the Information/Orientation (I/O) and Mental Ability (Mab) tests of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE; Pattie & Gilleard, 1979).
RESULTS The results are presented in Table 1 which shows the means and standard deviations for Eysenck’s personality dimensions: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), and Psychoticism (P) and for the I/O and Mab tests of the CAPE. Product moment correlations are presented for the personality and cognitive measures in Table 2.
DISCUSSION
N was found to be positively related, and P negatively related to the I/O subtest of the CAPE. No relationship was found between N and Mab. The fact that individuals with high levels of N were better orientated and informed ran counter to the hypothesis, a finding that was all the more surprising in an elderly psychiatric group. Clearly further examination of the relationship between cognitive functioning and personality measures in normal elderly groups is required (Costa, Fozard, McCrae & Bossi, 1976; Hooper, Hooper & Colbert, 1984; Hayslip, 1988).
Table I. Means and standard deviations for N. E, P, I/O and Mab for 94 elderly female psychiatric patients N
E
P
M
SD
M
SD
7.00
3.42
5.38
3.30
Mab
I/G
-SD
I .49
2.17
M
SD
M
SD
8.39
3.24
9.76
1.73
Table 2.
Product moment correlations for P, E, N and I/O and Mab scores for 94 elderly psychiatric oatients N
I/O Mab
+ 0.24’ f0.04
E -0.11 -0.00
‘P < 0.05.
265
P -0.23* to.07
NOTES AND SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS
266
REFERENCES
Costa, P. T., Fozard, J. L., McCrae, R. R. & Boss& R. (1976). Relations of age and personality dimensions to cognitive ability factors. Journal of Gerontology, 31, 663-669. Eysenck, H. J. (1947). Dimensions of Personality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and indiuidual differences. New York: Plenum Press. Eysenck, S. B. G., Eysenck, H. J. & Barrett, P. (1985). A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences,
6, 21-29.
Hayslip, B. Jr (1988). Personality-ability relationships in aged adults. Journal of Gerontology, 43, 79-84. Hooper, F. H., Hooper, J. 0. & Colbert, K. K. (1984). Personality and memory correlates of intellectual functioning: young adulthood to old age. New York: Karger. Pattie, A. H. & Gilleard, C. J. (1979). Manual of the Clifton Assessment Procedures for the Elderly (CAPE). Sevenoaks, England: Hodder and Stoughton.