title: Everyday activity patterns and sensory functioning in old age.
abstract: In the present study the authors investigated the relationship between visual and auditory acuity and everyday activity functioning. Participants were 516 older adults (70-103 years; equal numbers of men and women) who were members of the age-stratified Berlin Aging Study. Two categories of everyday activity functioning, perceived competence with basic activities of daily living (BaCo; basic competence) and amount of participation in discretionary social and leisure tasks (ExCo; expanded competence), were examined. The results revealed that sensory acuity, particularly vision, was a significant predictor of both BaCo and ExCo (rs ranging from .32 to .47). Indeed, hearing and vision could explain most of the age-related variance in everyday activities. At the same time, in the context of a broader model, evidence for the differential prediction of BaCo and ExCo was found, although there was also evidence for strong general age-related predictive variance that was common to both measures. Discussion focuses on the role of sensory acuity constructs as mediators of age-related variance in psychological and behavioral outcomes and the potential causal implications of this mediation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA. marsiske@iog.wayne.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marsiske
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klumb
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Baltes
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001604:Berlin; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014505:Urban Population; D014792:Visual Acuity