Memory Self-Efficacy and Beliefs about Memory and Aging in Oldest-Old Adults in the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study (LHAS)

ABSTRACT

Background/Study Context. Adaptation to normative age-related declines in memory is an important but understudied aspect of successful aging. The purpose of the present study was to shed new light on memory self-efficacy and beliefs about memory and aging as two integral aspects of adult cognition with relevance to successful aging.

Methods. Young (19 to 27 years) and community-dwelling older adults (60 to 94 years) from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study (LHAS) completed an adapted Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ) which includes a memory self-efficacy subscale, the Memory Controllability Inventory (MCI), and the Aging Concerns Scale (ACS).

Results. Nonagenarians’ self-reported memory and beliefs about memory and aging were of central interest. We compared their responses to three younger reference groups to examine hypothesized differences in self-reported memory and beliefs about memory and aging in very late life. Results yielded age effects for most of the MFQ and MCI subscales demonstrating more positive subjective views about memory functioning and control over memory for the young adults. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to isolate factors that may be associated with memory self-efficacy. Age, symptoms of depression, and memory control beliefs accounted for approximately half of the variance in memory self-efficacy ratings.

Conclusion. These data indicate that although memory self-efficacy may be age sensitive, we detected no differences in subjective views across the three older groups. Implications for cognitive adaptability and successful aging are considered.

Acknowledgement

We thank Marla Erwin, K. Mark Erwin, Jennifer Depew, Jenny Denver, Tracey Frias, and Molly Benbrook for their help with the research effort. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Notes

1. Hutchens et al. (2013) created a total control beliefs score by collapsing across the four MCI subscales (after having reversed the Inevitable Decrement subscale so that a higher score indicates a stronger control belief). The internal consistency reliability estimate for the total score (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.78) exceeded the estimates obtained for the individual scale scores reported here. A potentially useful direction for future research would be to examine older adults’ beliefs using the Hutchens et al. composite MCI score.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents through the Millennium Trust Health Excellence Fund [HEF(2001-06)-02] and the National Institute on Aging [P01AG022064]. This support is gratefully acknowledged.