Accelerated mental aging in alcoholic patients

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Discriminant function and polynomial regression methods were used to define a mental age function from scale score profile patterns found in the WAIS manual. Values on the mental age function then were calculated from WAIS scale score profiles for 164 alcoholics in the age range 35 to 74. Validity of the mental age function was evident in clear discrimination between chronological age groups in the alcoholic sample. As compared with WAIS normative values for the mental age function, the mean mental age for patients in the alcoholic sample was advanced approximately 7 years over agematched normals. Unweighted means ANOVA revealed the accelerated mental aging of alcoholic patients to be statistically significant. This finding is discussed in the context of other research that supports a premature aging hypothesis.

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit: