The present study examined the interrelationships among cognitive and social rigidity, intelligence and personal adjustment in old age, and evaluated a six-week training program teaching social problem-solving skills to the elderly. Ninety-eight subjects, aged 60.9 to 88.0 years, were randomly assigned to the treatment, placebo control, and the waiting-list groups. Subjects were pretested on the TBR Opposites test (cognitive rigidity), the social MEPS (social rigidity), WAIS Vocabulary, and Adjustment of Old Age scales; and post-tested on social rigidity and adjustment The hypothesis that cognitive rigidity is independent of social rigidity was not fully supported. Adjustment to old age was found to be significantly related to social rigidity and, to a lesser degree, to cognitive rigidity. Only treatment subjects showed an overall, significant pre- to post-training improvement on social MEPS scores. The findings suggest that social rigidity is amenable to change.

The primary purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the effects of exercise on simple cognitive performance and on psychological well-being in persons over fifty years of age. A secondary purpose was to assess the relationship between a set of subject variables and drop-out from fitness programs. Twenty-nine new and 37 active volunteers from the St. John's 3F fitness club for persons over fifty years of age served as subjects. Initial assessment on fitness and psychological measures was carried out within three weeks of the start/restart of the program. A second testing took place six months later. Significant pre/post differences were obtained on measures of reaction time, flexibility, balance, extra program activity, and digit symbol performance. Group by pre/post effects also reached statistical significance for psychological well-being. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of exercise are not limited to physical fitness variables, but may extend to cognitive and personality processes.

A combined questionnaire and interview procedure was used to explore the perceptions and obligations to assist a frail old person with physical care, financial aid, and psychological support. Subjects for the interview were 80 women aged 18–25, 30–45, 50–65, and 65–85 years, all residents of a small town in Maritime Canada. The questionnaire was omitted in the case of the oldest group. The results showed that children were perceived to have a strong obligation to assist, substantially reduced, however, by circumstances such as geographical distance or financial exigency. The obligation of government was also strong for all but psychological needs. Siblings, friends, and the church were perceived to be common sources of assistance, particularly psychological, but with significantly less moral obligation compared to other sources. Differences between age groups were small. The interviews, however, showed the youngest group to be less realistic and more absolute about children's responsibilities for old people than were old people for themselves. Similarly, the oldest subjects were more likely than younger subjects to stress the responsibility of the old person for his/her own welfare.

The relocation stress hypothesis that older people find the move into a nursing home to be stressful was examined using archival time-series data. The prevalence of psychological distress following admission was obtained from nursing notes written on monthly medical charts for 159 residents of four Saskatchewan nursing homes. Excluding those with an organic psychotic disorder (19.5%), the results showed that the majority of new residents (82.7%) were not distressed by the move. However, a large proportion of those who were stressed and, in particular, those who had behavioral problems prior to admission did experience psychological distress on admission, and this proportion dropped slowly over an eight month period. While this evidence does not support a general relocation stress hypothesis, it is consistent with a perceived control interpretation of this hypothesis as well as a number of other interpretations focussing on alternative explanations for the behavioral problems variable.

This paper reports the development of a psychological assessment instrument for evaluating the deteriorated elderly patient. The instrument provides information on patient function in eight areas including communication abilities, cognitive status and mood. Analyses were undertaken to determine the psychometric properties of each component of the instrument. Examination of the means and standard deviations indicated that the full range was used for each scale. Examination of interrater reliability yielded values ranging from .92 to .99. Several indices that may be of use in evaluating the significance of change in test scores are also presented. Suggestions are also made for the application of this instrument in both clinical and research settings.