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This study investigates the effects of age, level of education, and institutionalization on the development of logical thinking. Seven Piagetian tasks, encompassing three levels of difficulty, were administered to thirty-four persons sixty-eight years of age or older. A significant positive relationship was found between success on task and educational level. With education controlled, Community-active elders performed significantly better than Institutionalized elders. Within the limitations of a cross-sectional design, results supported the hypothesis that cognitive abilities in old age retain an orderly structure.

Current concepts of sex role development suggest that roles vary between sex-appropriate polar masculinity and femininity to complex androgyny at various points in life. Reviews of previous research suggest that certain roles may be more or less adaptive for an individual. In the exploratory study reported here 364 community-dwelling older adults described their own sex roles using the Bem Sex Role Inventory and were tested with additional measures of mental and physical health and current life situation. Most elderly persons described androgynous roles. Perceived sex roles related to several dimensions of life situation and well-being.

The objectives of this inquiry were to examine Langner mental health symptomatology screening scores in a community-dwelling sample of older adults, and to explore relations between Langner scores, health, and stress. Older adults (N = 364), who were participants in a study of sex roles, were interviewed in their homes concerning mental health symptoms, health, recent life stress, sex-role conflict, and demographic factors. Respondents reported relatively few symptoms. Symptoms were related to health and independent reports of nervousness and depression in both sexes, and to age in men, but not to stress and conflict in either sex. Mental health symptom screening devices may not mean the same thing for male and female older clients and should be used with caution until behavioral validation can be done.