Characteristics of the Florida Cognitive Activities Scale in Older African Americans

Abstract

Substantial research effort has recently focused on the potential protective effect of cognitively demanding activities on cognitive decline in late life. A significant methodological issue in this effort has been the lack of consistency in approaches to the operational measurement of cognitive activity. In this study, data in support of the reliability and construct validity of the recently developed Florida Cognitive Activities Scale (FCAS) in a sample of 223 African American older adults are provided. Consistent with the findings of the Schinka et al. study using a sample of Whites, the FCAS full scale showed a reasonably high level of internal consistency, small negative correlations with age and a measure of depressive symptomatology, and moderate positive correlations with years of education and neuropsychological measures of overall cognitive functioning, memory, and executive functioning. Even after controlling for the effects of age, education, and gender, the full scale score contributed significantly to the prediction of global cognitive functioning. The results of this study suggest that the FCAS is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive activities in older African Americans and provides additional, although not causative, evidence in support of the hypothesis of a protective effect of cognitive activity against cognitive decline regardless of ethnicity or race.

Lifestyle Activities in Sociodemographically At-Risk Urban, Older Adults Prior to Participation in the Baltimore Experience Corps®Trial

“…The activities reported by these participants were highly similar to those previously reported in studies examining engagement patterns in adulthood, with television watching, reading, socializing, and essential daily activities (e.g., preparing food) among those activities most frequently endorsed (e.g., Arbuckle, Gold, Chaikelson, & Lapidus, 1994; Dotson, Schinka, Brown, Mortimer, & Borenstein, 2008; Parisi, 2010; Salthouse, Berish, & Miles, 2002). A few differences were noted; specifically, individuals in the present study reported high levels of religious involvement, replicating other findings suggesting that African-Americans center many of their activities around religious involvement (e.g., Krause, 2006; Taylor, Chatters, McKeever Bullard, Wallace, & Jackson, 2009).…”

Nurse-Enhanced Memory Intervention in Heart Failure: The MEMOIR Study

“…Internal consistency reliability of the Scale was Cronbach’s alpha from 0.65 to 0.79 in healthy elders and 0.68 among 223 African-American older adults. 75,76 Construct validity was supported by factor analysis and discriminant validity was supported by comparing scores of healthy elders and persons with neurological impairments. 75,76 In the current study, the Cronbach’s alpha reliability was 0.77 at baseline and 0.76 at 12 weeks.…”

Association between Cognitive Activity and Cognitive Function in Older Hispanics

“…Most studies on the association between cognitive activity and cognitive function in non-demented older adults have been in predominantly non-Hispanic Whites (e.g., Hultsch et al, 1999; Verghese et al, 2003; Wang et al, 2002; Wilson et al, 2005), and a small number in primarily non-Hispanic Blacks (Barnes, Wilson, Mendes de Leon, & Bennett, 2006; Dotson, Schinka, Brown, Mortimer, & Borenstein, 2008). Studies in geographically defined biracial samples have found less frequent engagement in cognitive activity in Blacks than Whites (Wilson et al, 1999; Wilson, Bennett, et al, 2002), but similar associations of cognitive activity to cognitive decline (Wilson et al, 2003) and incident dementia (Wilson, Bennett, et al, 2002).…”