Date of Graduation
1994
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of hypertension on both self-assessed and laboratory measures of memory and on non-cognitive factors such as anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Eight male and twelve female normotensive adults aged 62 to 77 years (M = 71.8) and 8 male and 12 female hypertensive adults aged 62 to 78 years (M = 72.5) completed questionnaires measuring state and trait anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, locus of control, and health in addition to performing speed of processing, spatial and verbal working memory and short term memory tasks and measures of vocabulary and incidental memory. As expected, hypertensive subjects performed more poorly on rate of processing and 2 of 3 working memory tasks. No differences were found in short term memory, vocabulary, or incidental memory. In addition, hypertensives reported having more memory problems overall and rated their memory problems as being more serious than normotensives. Hypertensives also reported more psychological symptoms, having lower internal and higher chance locus of control, and being more depressed compared to normotensives. No differences in self-efficacy, state anxiety, trait anxiety or powerful others locus of control were found. Based on the results of hierarchial regression analyses, it was found that the effects of hypertension on cognitive performance could be attenuated and even eliminated by controlling for self-evaluations such as psychological symptoms, locus of control, and self-efficacy. Exploratory path analyses were employed to explore the relationships among anxiety, depression, efficacy, and cognitive performance. The primary finding of these analyses was that while anxiety and depression had significant direct effects on efficacy, these variables did not have significant direct effects on the effortful measures of memory. The strongest relationships between depression and performance were for incidental memory and vocabulary. Efficacy, on the other hand, had significant direct effects on working memory and short term memory and a large direct effect on self-assessed memory. These results support the model described by Berry (1989) and others which shows self-efficacy mediating the relationship between affect and cognitive performance.
Recommended Citation
Tunick, Ruth, "The effect of hypertension on cognitive performance in older adults: Self-evaluation as a mediator." (1994). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 9920.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/9920