Neuropsychological Test Performance: A Study of Non-Hispanic White Elderly*

Abstract

This study examined within-group differences in neuropsychological test performance between US versus foreign-born English-speaking White elders. Participants included 193 randomly selected English-speaking elderly community residents who self-identified as non-Hispanic White. Participants were classified as US (n =106) or foreign-born (n =87). All participants were independently diagnosed by a physician as nondemented. After controlling for years of education, participants born in the United States obtained significantly higher scores on measures of verbal reasoning, naming, and fluency than foreign-born elders. These results suggest that although non-Hispanics White are often treated as a homogeneous group, performance differences exist even within this group. Effects of acculturation level and language use on cognitive styles may help explain these findings.