| This study compared 122 older adult psychiatric patients with two groups of normal older adults on measures of intellectual functioning and coping styles as assessed by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and the Shanan Sentence Completion Technique (SSCT). A central premise of the study was that intellectual functioning and coping style are major parameters of personality functioning, and that the latter plays a mediating role in the incidence and prevalence of later life psychopathology. Results indicated that psychiatric patients follow a similar pattern of aging decline in intellectual functioning as normals. However, the psychiatric patients displayed a more rapid pace of decline on the more fluid tasks than the normal adults. In addition, psychiatric inpatients scored significantly lower on all measures of intelligence than outpatients. Coping style was found to be related to mental health in that psychiatric patients received a lower score in coping than normal older adults. Yet, no significant differences in coping were indicated among the psychiatric patients themselves. Results are discussed in terms of understanding the possible etiological role that developmental, intellectual functioning, and coping styles play in later-life psychopathology. |
