Age Recognition in Adults With Intellectual Disabilities and Research Portfolio

Bell, Dorothy M (1998) Age Recognition in Adults With Intellectual Disabilities and Research Portfolio. D Clin Psy thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

The ability of children to classify accurately their own ages and the ages of others has been the subject of very limited research. However, the literature is largely in agreement on there being progressive increases with chronological age, though there is disagreement on the age at which the skill becomes well developed. The processes look similar in the field of adults with intellectual disabilities although this area is extremely under-researched. Key factors may include age, the degree of institutionalisation, developmental level and IQ. This paper presents the findings of a research study investigating the age recognition of self and others in a group of 20 intellectually disabled adults from within a major institution and the wider community. Measures of age recognition using photographs, as well as standardised measures of intellectual ability and social adaptive behaviour, were administered and correlations were found between the ability to recognise age in others and developmental age and also IQ. Success on the task of age discrimination appears to more likely if the IQ is around 60 - 65 or above and if the person shows social adaptive behaviour at an age equivalence of 8 to 9 years and over. Also included was a task in which only the discrimination of whether the photographs were of adults or children was required, and this proved to be a simpler process for the participants. This study also demonstrates some of the discriminative stimuli used by adults with intellectual disabilities to ascertain the approximate age of a person.

Item Type: Thesis (D Clin Psy)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Additional Information: Adviser: Colin Espie
Keywords: Clinical psychology, Cognitive psychology, Disability studies
Date of Award: 1998
Depositing User: Enlighten Team
Unique ID: glathesis:1998-74504
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2019 18:03
Last Modified: 27 Sep 2019 18:03
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/74504

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