Predictors Moderators Outcomes Verbal Fluency (VF) VF*educational level TMT-B*educational level D-TMT*educational level Observed Tasks of Daily Living Everyday Problem test Trail Making Test – A (TMT-A) TMT-A*educational level Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) TMT-B*educational level D Working Memory (WM) WM*educational level Short Term Memory (STM) STM*educational level Long Term Memory (LTM) LTM*educational level Consistent with the hypothesis of the 2nd analysis, cognitive performance explained a statistically significant proportion of the variance in the EPT-G but not in the OTDL-G scores. The moderation effect of education in the relation between cognitive performance and everyday functioning was not evident in . In the regression model, the total variance explained was .50 and .60, which makes the inclusion of 7 predictors in samples of 92 participants sufficient for a good prediction level (Knofczynski & Mundfrom, 2017). Among the cognitive measures, only VF and TMT-B predicted independently Greek seniors’ EPT-G scores in the final model. Age and education however were statistically significant predictors of both and OTDL-G. Table 7.4 Stepwise Regression Analysis Predicting EPT-G Scores Step and variable B β R2change Step 1 .205** Age -.417 -.453** Step 2 .183** Age -.904 -.301**
Descriptive analysis Descriptive statistics (frequencies) for social participation, Internet use, working, childrearing, and care giving are presented in Tables 7.8 and 7.9. The mean and standard deviation of the exercise index were M = 22.26, SD = 17.26, with 60% of the participants reporting that they do not exercise at all, 14% that they exercise but not in adequate levels, and 26% exercising adequately. The mean and standard deviation for the social participation activities were M = 6.57 and SD = .80. Among the participants, 45% reported never to feel lonely, 38% sometimes and 17% sometimes Table 7.8 Percentages Of Seniors’ Participation (Narrow Definition) Never once a year Sometimes a year Sometimes a month Sometimes a week Everyday (almost) Volunteering (%) 61 15 12 5 6 Political/community organization (%) 62 24 12 2 0 Sport, social, or other clubs (%) 11 66 12 3 0 Educational or training courses (%) 59 27 9 4 0 Note. * Social participation frequency (continuous variable) M = 6.96, SD = 2.04, Range 4-13 Table 7.9 Percentages Of Seniors’ Participation In Internet Use And Social Activities Never Once/twice a week Most days Almost everyday Everyday Using the Internet (%) 42 10 8 6 34 Working (%) 83 1 0 11 5 Childrearing (%) 45 24 13 4 14 Caregiving (%) 79 11 3 1 5 Analysis and Results Pearson correlation coefficient analysis of age with cognitive performance measures yielded statistically significant results with TMT-B (r = .345, p = .001), STM (r = -.271, p = .009) and LTM (r = -.308, p = .003) but not with VF. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis among social participation, Internet use, working, childrearing, caregiving and exercise with VF, TMT-B, STM and LTM yielded statistically significant results only for the
those with a University degree do not have statistically significant different social network size from those completing only primary school. As such, the evidence suggests tentatively that having a poorer or higher than secondary education may be related with poorer social network size. However, there is no evidence that increased age and social network size decline leads to decreased social participation. These findings are inconsistent with the arguments of Cummings and Henry (1961) who advocated the manifestation of social withdrawal in older age, with the loss of social ties to be a plausible explanation for a reduction in social participation. The relevant evidence points to increased income influencing one’s social participation frequency positively, suggesting that it may help in retaining social participation in the face of social ties losses with age. In relation to Internet use, the predictive ability of age may reflect a cohort effect, namely that older cohorts have lower rates of Internet use than younger generations. These findings are consistent with evidence depicting that globally, older adults have the lowest percentages of Internet use compared to all other age groups (Zickhur and Madden, 2012). The evidence however also depicts that being an older woman in Greece predicts even less Internet use. The evidence deriving from the regression analyses in this chapter should be taken under consideration with extreme caution. As the model in total explained a variance between .171 and .270, the inclusion of 3 to 4 predictors with the sample size available (N = 92) does not offer enough statistical power for a good prediction level (Knofczynski & Mundfrom, 2017). As such, the risk of having produced a type II error has been comparatively higher in these analyses. Conclusion
evidence is consistent with the findings of the meta-analysis, where no moderation effect of education emerged in the relation between cognitive performance and everyday functioning when the sample was restricted to studies of cognitively healthy older adults. The findings of this thesis did not indicate a direct relationship between social participation, exercise, Internet use and education on cognitive performance. These findings could not support the thesis’s third hypothesis. However, social participation, exercise, Internet use and education moderated the relationship between age and cognitive performance and thus supported the fourth hypothesis. A visual examination of the relevant graphs indicates that those exercising more than the average had worse EF in younger age. In addition, the examination of the moderation effect of Internet use in the relation between age and EF indicates an overuse effect, namely that no or moderate use of Internet helps retaining performance in EF. Internet use most days of the week or more produced worse cognitive performance in EF in older age. In this study, 39% of seniors reported participating in volunteering sometimes or more frequently every year. Regarding childcare, the evidence showed that 55% of Greek seniors care for children once or more per week. In addition, 55% of those who provided care for children reported doing so most days, almost every day, or every day. Similarly, 21% of the participants reported providing care to disabled individuals. The percentage of Greek seniors that did not exercise at all was 60% in this study, with 14% exercising to the recommended levels. Many Greek seniors did not use the Internet (42%) in this study, with this trend being more evident among women. Lastly, the findings of this thesis indicate that the OTDL-G has a moderate, potentially satisfactory internal consistency, whereas the EPT-G reached excellent levels of internal consistency. Inter-rater reliability analysis did not yield any statistically significant difference
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