Q-technique methodology in the study of healthy aged men (part II)

Abstract

This is the second in a series of papers which describe the application of the Q-technique to the study of healthy aged men. The Q-type factor analysis was performed on the subjects of a 1957 NIMH study (47 aged men across 550 measured variables). These papers focus on Q-factor clusters which contained biological and cognitive relationships. The first paper concentrated on methodological issues and also presented six Q-factor clusters from Q-factors 1 and 2. This second paper presents 12 additional clusters from Q-factors 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Biological states (i.e., aspects of cardiovascular and cerebral chemistry/metabolism functions) were observed in relationship to cognitive (i.e., intellectual, memory, and psychometric performance), speed (i.e., auditory and visual reaction times), and social-psychological (e.g., foreign versus native born) functions.