Demographic predictors of verbal learning and memory indices on the World Health Organization-University of California at Los Angeles Auditory Verbal Learning Test in a Hispanic sample

The general purpose of this study was to address the paucity of neuropsychological information about U.S. Spanish-speaking Hispanics by providing a comprehensive account of three demographic variables, which are used to stratify normative data, on two fundamental cognitive processes (auditory verbal learning and memory). Specifically, the study addressed the individual and joint effects of age, education and gender on 15 different indices of verbal learning and memory which were derived from a culturally neutral test, the WHO-UCLA AVLT-Spanish Version. The effects of these three demographic predictors were assessed by means of binary logistic regression analyses.; This study represented secondary research. Data obtained on the WHO-UCLA AVLT-SV during the standardization of the Neuropsychological Screening Battery for Hispanics (NeSBHIS) were used. The standardization study utilized a non-experimental, cross-sectional design. Participants came from community centers of the greater Los Angeles area. The final sample consisted of 300 Hispanic participants (60% female; 40% male) whose ages ranged from 16 to 75 years and whose formal educational level fluctuated from 1 to 20 years.; Six research hypotheses were formulated: (a) an inverse relationship between age and most indices; (b) a direct relationship between education and most indices; (c) no relationship between gender and the 15 indices; (d) age as the most important predictor; (e) presence of 'age x education' interactions; and (f) an effect of education on semantic clustering performance. The effects of confounding variables such as presence of bilingualism, acculturation and IQ were also explored. Results mostly supported hypothesis c, partially supported hypotheses a, b and e, and did not support hypotheses d and f. Unexpected findings which translate into important clinical implications were obtained. Monolingual Spanish speakers showed significantly less proactive interference than bilingual speakers. Formal education was found to be unrelated to using semantic clustering as a learning strategy. The significance of the findings as well as the limitations and assumptions of this empirical investigation are addressed. Suggestions for use of the findings and recommendations for future research are also made.