title: Declines in divergent thinking with age: cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-sequential analyses.
abstract: Six measures of divergent thinking were administered to 825 men ranging in age from 17 to 101 over the period from 1959 to 1972; repeat administrations were given to a subset of 278 men after a 6-year interval. Cross-sectional analyses showed curvilinear trends, with an increase in scores for men under 40 and a decline thereafter. Repeated measures analyses on subjects initially aged 33 to 74 generally replicated this finding, whereas cross-sequential analyses suggested a decline for all cohorts tested at a later time. Additional analyses suggested that not all of the decline could be attributed to reduced speed of response production. These longitudinal findings confirm earlier cross-sectional reports of decline in divergent thinking abilities with age.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: McCrae
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arenberg
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003405:Creativity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D013850:Thinking; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary