Abstract
Cognitive abilities were examined across the lifespan for a Chinese sample, taking into consideration gender, education, and environmental factors. Participants were tested on the five subtests of the Primary Mental Abilities (PMA), a psychometric instrument measuring cognitive abilities. Environmental factors were assessed with a measure known as the Life Complexity Inventory (LCI), which provides information on the many aspects of the participants' microenvironment. A MANOVA was used to examine patterns of cohort and gender differences in intellectual performance, and significant main effects for cohort were found. Polynomial trend analyses confirmed that age was linearly related to most mental abilities. Of the seven environmental factors, only the Intellectual Environment factor was significantly associated with all ability scores with positive correlations ranging from r = .20 to .32. Positive correlations indicate that a particular environmental factor is associated with higher ability or greater flexibility.