| This paper investigates the relationship between depression and levels of unawareness of cognitive deficits in individuals with dementia, using more appropriate statistical analyses than previous studies in this area. Specifically, unawareness was defined as the interaction term in multiple regression analyses to avoid the conceptual and statistical limitations of difference scores, which have traditionally been used in this line of research. Ninety-nine outpatients ages 59 to 86 who were referred for a dementia evaluation completed a neuropsychological battery and awareness questionnaire. The first hypothesis that there would be a negative relationship between self-reported depression and levels of unawareness was not supported. Moreover, the relationship between depression and unawareness did not vary across different cognitive domains (i.e., memory, attention, language, and executive skills). The analyses revealed that participants' self-report of their cognitive abilities significantly predicted their self-reported level of depression, with regard to overall cognitive functioning as well as each cognitive domain. Clinical implications of these results are also discussed. |
