Neuropsychological test performance: a study of non-Hispanic White elderly.
This study examined within-group differences in neuropsychological test performance between US versus foreign-born English-speaking White elders. Participants included 193 randomly selected English-speaking elderly community residents who self-identified as non-Hispanic White. Participants were classified as US (n = 106) or foreign-born (n = 87). All participants were independently diagnosed by a physician as nondemented. After controlling for years of education, participants born in the United States obtained significantly higher scores on measures of verbal abstract reasoning, naming, and fluency than foreign-born elders. These results suggest that although non-Hispanics White are often treated as a homogeneous group, performance differences exist even within this group. Effects of acculturation level and language use on cognitive styles may help explain these findings.
Touradj
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Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
Manly
J J
JJ
Jacobs
D M
DM
Stern
Y
Y
D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004522:Educational Status; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011897:Random Allocation; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D044465:White People