Characteristics of self-reported memory compensation in older adults.

Self-reported efforts to compensate for memory impairments in everyday life were examined. In seven scales, the Memory Compensation Questionnaire (MCQ) measures five mechanisms of memory compensation, as well as motivation to compensate and awareness of need to compensate. The MCQ was administered twice, at a 3-year interval, to a large sample of healthy older adults (aged initially 55-85 years) from the Victoria Longitudinal Study. Concurrent analyses (n = 854) revealed an excellent set of psychometric properties for the MCQ and its scales. Two-wave longitudinal analyses (n = 629) revealed overall short-term stability of compensatory strategy use. Although all groups reported a similar pattern of relative frequencies of compensatory mechanism use, select qualifications of age and gender were detected. Applications of the MCQ to investigate awareness, motivation, and implementation of compensatory memory strategies in various populations are discussed.