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6 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
David A Pineda
Monica Rosselli
University of Antioquia
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Alfredo Ardila
Silvia Mejia
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(Received May 6, 1998; Revised October 25, 1999; Accepted December 20, 1999)
Abstract
The Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination Battery (BDAE) is one of the most widely used aphasia tests
worldwide. Information about general population performance, however, is limited. This paper analyzes the effects
of gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), academic achievement, and occupation on the BDAE Spanish version.
The BDAE was administered to a randomized sample of 156 occupationally active 19 60-year-old participants
(75 male and 81 female) from two SES groups. Gender and age had a significant effect on some reading and writing
subtests. Body-part naming and mechanics of writing scores were significantly decreased in the low SES group.
Education had a significant impact over most of the BDAE subtests. A stepwise regression model showed that
academic achievement was best able to predict the variance in BDAE scores with a low (,15%) to modest (.17%)
but significant capability (F MANOVA p , .01). A factor analysis disclosed 7 factors that explained 67% of the
total variance. (JINS, 2000, 6, 802814.)
Keywords: Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, Language testing, Spanish-speakers, Educational effects
Few studies, however, have focused on BDAE performance in normal populations (Rosselli et al., 1990a; Welch
et al., 1996). Borod et al. (1980) carried out a normative
study of the BDAE among English-speaking populations age
25 through 85 years, from different levels of education ranging from zero years to college. Seven of the subtests were
deleted from this norming study on the presumption that no
failure should be anticipated from nonaphasic adults. The
mean of most subtests indicated that a few individuals fall
short of the maximum raw score by as much as 5 or 6 points.
The lowest scores were observed in the group of subjects
over 60 years of age with fewer than 9 years of schooling.
The authors found that age showed significant differences
less frequently than education. The effect of gender, SES,
or occupation was not analyzed in that study. Heaton et al.
(1991) studied the effects of age, gender, and level of education for the Complex Ideational Material subtest in 186
normal individuals. The sample included mainly males (82%)
with a mean age of 57.3 (SD 5 16.1) years, and a mean
level of education of 13.0 (SD 5 2.7) years. The percentage
of variance accounted for age and gender was zero, whereas
for education it was 9%.
INTRODUCTION
The Boston DiagnosticAphasia Examination (BDAE; Goodglass & Kaplan, 1972, 1983) is one of the most widely used
aphasia test batteries. This extensive battery assesses different aspects of language performance. BDAE is a rather well
studied test battery in abnormal populations and its validity
has been extensively studied in aphasic individuals (Borod
et al., 1980; Goodglass & Kaplan, 1983, 1986). Cluster analysis grouping different types of aphasic patients is available
(Crary et al., 1992). Davis (1993) studied the reliability of
the BDAE. Construct validity (Goodglass & Kaplan, 1972),
and predictive validity (Garcia-Albea et al., 1986; HelmsEstabrooks & Ramsberger,1986) have also been analyzed.
More recently, the BDAE has been used to analyze language
changes associated with normal aging (Emery, 1986) and language decline in Alzheimers disease patients (Jacobs et al.,
1995; Osterweil et al., 1994; Randolph & Larson, 1988).
802
METHODS
Research Participants
The BDAE was administered to 156 19- to 60-year-old normal (75 male, 81 female) Colombian participants living in
Medellin (population around 2,000,000 inhabitants). All participants were native Spanish-speakers. Participants were
803
randomly selected from an official list of workers registered in the Occupational Department of the Social Security Institute of Antioquia (Medelln). At the time of the study
all participants were healthy and actively working at middle and large sized industries in Medellin. Persons with antecedents of any neurological or psychiatric disorders were
excluded from the sample.
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the sample. Three age groups (ages 1935, 3650, and 51 60 years)
and three academic achievement groups (defined by years
of education: 19,1015, and more than 16 years of education) are shown. Because the sample was selected from the
factories and companies with more than 100 employees, and
these organizations contract mainly qualified workers, only
10 (6.4%) of the participants had 5 or fewer years of education, only 1 (0.6%) had 1 year, and none were illiterate.
The mean of years of education in Group 1 (19) was 6.4 6
2.4, in Group 2 (1015) it was 12.8 6 1.5, and in Group 3
(1622) it was 17.1 6 1.4. It has to be noted that the
Colombian educational system is not completely equivalent to the US educational system. Elementary education in
Colombia is completed in the fifth grade, and secondary education in the 11th grade, when students obtain the mathematics and humanistic bachelor (bachillerato) diploma.
Then they can apply to a technical institution or to a university. Technical studies usually require one to attend 2 or
3 years in a superior technical institute. University careers
(medicine, psychology, law, engineering, education, etc.)
generally require 5 to 6 years after the baccalaureate. Finally, if the student has obtained the professional diploma
in a university he or she can study 2 to 5 additional years
Frequency
Percentage
Age (years)
1. (1935)
2. (3650)
3. (51 60)
67
77
12
42.9
49.4
7.7
Gender
M
F
75
81
48
52
16
47.4
36.5
SES
Low
High
109
47
69.9
30.1
35
29
17
27
48
22.5
18.6
10.9
17.3
30.7
Occupation
1. Manual workers
2. Technicians
3. Office employees
4. Visuospatial professionals
5. High verbal activity professionals
804
in a training or research program in order to get a postgraduate degree.
The sample was also stratified into two socioeconomic
status (groups low and high), and five occupations (manual
workers, technicians, office employees, and two professional groups). The official city criteria were used to determine the socioeconomic status (SES) of the participants.
Medellin has been divided by the City Administration Board
into six socioeconomic areas, ranging from Level 1 (lowest) to Level 6 (highest). This division is taken into account
for tax collection and city service payments. People living
in Level 1 areas are usually unqualified factory workers,
domestic workers, and the like, who earn the minimal wage.
People living in Level 6 areas are high-income professionals, industry owners, and the like. Participants included in
our sample were divided into two SES groups: low (City
Levels 1, 2, and 3 according to the City Administration
Board), and high (City Levels 4, 5, and 6).
Five occupational categories were identified using the
Social Security Institute of Antioquia classification:
(1) Group 1, including manual workers; (2) Group 2, consisting of qualified technicians; (3) Group 3, including office employees (secretaries, cashiers, counters, etc.); (4)
Group 4, including professionals with college or graduate
degrees with majors in those areas in which visuospatial
skills are supposedly most important (e.g., architecture and
engineering); and (5) Group 5, consisting of participants
with university degrees with majors in which high verbal
abilities are expected (e.g., business, law, social work,
nursing, physical and occupational therapy, psychology,
administration).
Statistical Analyses
SPSS 8.0 software was used in order to define descriptive
statistical measures. A multifactor analysis of variance
(MANOVA) with post-hoc Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons was used to study the main effects of age,
gender, level of education, socioeconomic status, and type
of occupation and their interactions on the BDAE subtests.
A Spearmans Rho correlation analysis for categorical, and
nonnormal distributed numerical variables was done in order to define which independent variables should be included in a multiple regression analysis, and which of them
were related to the BDAE continuous variables. A stepwise
regression analysis was developed in order to define the prediction capability of several independent categorical variables on the variance of each dependent numeric continuous
variable. In order to eliminate the collinear effect, only categorical independent variables with low or very low correlation coefficient (r , .45) were selected for the stepwise
SD
Range
70.54
18.65
14.39
9.05
2.67
2.07
1.15
1.66
5672
1520
715
412
13.68
1.87
0.86
0.49
814
02
9.98
7.80
7.82
0.11
0.48
0.41
910
58
68
29.87
9.87
1.22
0.78
1530
110
29.32
94.93
27.64
25.88
3.64
2.67
2.34
6.45
1030
8096
2130
10 45
9.71
7.89
6.58
9.98
9.41
1.21
0.63
1.68
0.13
0.90
610
18
18
910
610
4.94
46.27
13.66
9.80
9.80
11.78
4.86
0.42
5.08
1.57
0.97
0.99
1.36
0.65
05
150
114
110
110
012
05
805
RESULTS
Table 2 presents the means, standard deviations and ranges
obtained by the whole sample, and Table 3 shows the performance on the subtests by different age groups. In general, differences were small. The two younger groups (1935
and 3650 years) performed significantly higher in the Word
Picture Matching and Serial Writing subtests than the oldest group (age 51 60 years).
Academic achievement (years of education) had a significant effect in 10 out of the 25 analyzed BDAE subtests (see
Table 4). Statistically significant differences were observed
in most subtests when the group with the lowest level of
Variable
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation
Animal Naming
Body-Part Naming
Oral Reading
Word Reading
Oral Sentence
Repetition
Words
High-Probability
Low-Probability
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
Sentences Paragraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
1935 yrs
n 5 67
3650 yrs
n 5 77
51 60 yrs
n 5 12
(SD)
(SD)
(SD)
F*
Group differ.
70.7
18.7
14.3
8.9
(2.2)
(1.4)
(1.0)
(1.5)
70.6
18.9
14.4
9.2
(2.4)
(1.4)
(1.3)
(1.7)
68.4
18
14.4
8.5
(4.7)
(2.2)
(0.6)
(1.6)
1.221
0.448
0.650
0.226
.296
.640
.523
.798
29.3
95.4
26.8
27.3
(3.4)
(1.5)
(6.0)
(2.3)
29.6
94.5
26.01
27.8
(2.3)
(3.3)
(6.5)
(2.2)
29.4
94.5
19.75
27.5
(1.1)
(2.7)
(5.5)
(2.6)
0.382
3.201
2.232
0.522
.683
.044
.111
.594
29.7 (1.8)
9.8 (1.1)
29.9
9.9
(0.1)
(0.1)
29.7
9.5
(0.8)
(1)
1.134
0.856
.325
.427
9.9 (0.1)
7.8 (0.3)
7.8 (0.3)
10
7.8
7.8
(0)
(0.4)
(0.4)
10
7.4
7.5
(0)
(0.9)
(0.5)
0.767
1.492
4.549
.466
.228
.012
13 & 23
29.7
7.8
6.7
9.9
9.3
(1.8)
(0.8)
(1.6)
(0.1)
(0.9)
29.9
7.9
6.6
9.4
9.4
(0.1)
(0.1)
(1.4)
(0.8)
(0.8)
29.7
7.7
5.3
9.1
9.1
(0.8)
(0.8)
(2.7)
(1.1)
(1.1)
1.456
1.287
0.205
3.232
0.174
.237
.279
.840
.042
.840
13 & 23
4.9
46.9
13.7
9.8
9.8
11.8
4.8
(0.1)
(2.9)
(1.2)
(0.9)
(0.8)
(1.3)
(0.3)
4.9
46.7
13.7
9.8
9.8
11.9
4.9
(0.1)
(3.2)
(1.1)
(0.3)
(0.4)
(0.4)
(0.4)
5
39.4
12.9
9.3
9.0
8.9
4.6
(0)
(13.2)
(3.4)
(2.3)
(2.3)
(2.9)
(0.8)
0.001
5.808
0.526
0.198
0.844
1.437
0.827
.999
.004
.592
.821
.432
.241
.439
13 & 23
806
Middle
n 5 82
High
n 5 57
(SD)
(SD)
67.8
17.3
13.7
7.8
(4.4)
(1.9)
(1.3)
(1.8)
70.6
18.8
14.4
9.0
(2.4)
(1.2)
(1.2)
(1.5)
71.2
19.2
14.4
9.4
28.4
92.5
19.4
(4.8)
(4.4)
(5.6)
29.6 (2.2)
95.0 (2.4)
25.1 (5.9)
29.5
95.5
28.9
26.4
28.8
9.1
(2.0)
(3.6)
(2.2)
10
7.2
7.6
(0)
(0.8)
(0.4)
8.2
7.7
4.2
9.8
8.6
(3.0)
(0.7)
(2.3)
(0.3)
(1.3)
9.8
7.8
6.5
10
9.3
5
(0)
38.5 (11.9)
12.8 (2.9)
8.8 (2.6)
8.7 (2.5)
10.4 (3.5)
4.6 (0.8)
4.9
47.1
13.7
9.9
9.9
11.9
4.9
(SD)
F*
Group differ.
(1.6)
(1.4)
(0.8)
(1.5)
2.476
1.300
2.515
1.155
.088
.276
.084
.318
(2.6)
(1.8)
(5.6)
1.742
2.913
9.822
.179
.057
.000
12, 13 & 23
27.4 (2.4)
29.9 (0.1)
9.9 (0.1)
28.2 (2.0)
30
(0)
9.9 (0.1)
1.397
4.388
4.852
.251
.014
.009
12 & 13
12 & 13
9.9 (0.1)
7.8 (0.4)
7.8 (0.4)
10
(0)
7.9 (0.2)
7.8 (0.3)
1.124
2.459
0.367
.328
.089
.693
(0.5)
(0.7)
(1.4)
(0)
(0.9)
9.9 (0.2)
7.9 (0.2)
7.2 (1.0)
10
(0)
9.7 (0.4)
10.407
0.517
8.484
5.031
2.371
.000
.598
.000
.000
.097
12 & 13
12, 13 & 23
12 & 13
(0.1)
(2.1)
(1.1)
(0.2)
(0.2)
(0.1)
(0.1)
4.9
47.2
13.7
9.9
9.9
11.9
4.8
1.735
9.996
0.938
5.763
5.356
4.743
2.012
.180
.000
.394
.004
.006
.010
.137
12 & 13
12 & 13
12 & 13
12 & 13
(0.2)
(1.5)
(1.3)
(0.4)
(0.2)
(0.4)
(0.5)
demic achievement, and occupational level. Female participants in our sample had a mild tendency to have lower
education and hold lower-level jobs. Academic achievement was moderately but significantly correlated with the
participants SES (r 5 .39) and occupational level (r 5 .44).
Only Confrontation Naming and Reading Comprehension
of sentences and paragraphs presented a significant but low
correlation with gender. Word Discrimination, Animal Naming, High Probability Repetition, Low Probability Repetition, and Serial Writing presented a modest negative, but
significant correlation with age ( p , .05). In general, the
younger the participants; the better their performance. Fifteen of the BDAE variables presented positive and significant correlations with education and 16 subtest scores
significantly correlated with occupation (Table 8).
Multiple categorical demographic and individual variables were used as independent variables. A full regression
807
Variable
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation
Animal Naming
Body-Part Naming
Oral Reading
Word Reading
Oral Sentence
Repetition
Words
High Probability
Low Probability
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
Sentences Paragraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
Male
(n 5 75)
Female
(n 5 81)
(SD)
(SD)
F*
70.4
18.5
14.2
9.1
(2.6)
(1.7)
(1.3)
(1.6)
70.6
19.02
14.4
8.9
(2.6)
(1.2)
(0.9)
(1.6)
0.406
0.090
0.228
2.904
.525
.765
.633
.090
29.6
94.8
25.6
27.5
(2.3)
(2.2)
(6.3)
(2.4)
29.38
95.01
26.07
27.7
(3.1)
(2.9)
(6.5)
(2.2)
0.334
0.364
0.012
0.031
.564
.547
.914
.861
29.7
9.7
(1.7)
(1.1)
29.9
9.9
(0.1)
(0.1)
0.588
0.682
.445
.410
9.9
7.7
7.8
(0.1)
(0.5)
(0.4)
9.9
7.8
7.8
(0.1)
(0.4)
(0.2)
0.000
0.678
0.002
.999
.412
.961
9.6
7.8
6.3
9.9
9.2
(1.5)
(0.8)
(1.9)
(0.1)
(0.9)
9.8
7.9
6.8
10.0
9.5
(0.6)
(0.2)
(1.3)
(0)
(0.8)
0.006
1.052
0.877
1.291
2.283
.939
.307
.351
.258
.133
4.9
45.6
13.4
9.7
9.7
11.6
4.8
(0.1)
(6.5)
(1.2)
(1.3)
(1.2)
(1.7)
(0.4)
4.9
46.8
13.8
9.9
9.9
11.9
4.9
(0.1)
(2.9)
(0.4)
(0.3)
(0.4)
(0.3)
(0.4)
0.113
0.069
1.694
0.245
0.348
0.644
0.092
.737
.793
.195
.622
.556
.424
.762
mands Comprehension and Body-Part Naming. These findings corroborate the results presented in Table 8 (zero-order
correlations).
An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation
disclosed seven factors with eigenvalues over 1.0 that
accounted for 67% of the variance (Table 10). Factor 1 explained 30.2% of the variance and its load was nearly 3 times
higher than the Factor 2 load (11.9%). Factor 3 explained
only 6.8% of the variance. Each of the other four factors
explained less than 5% of the variance.
Table 11 describes the possible cognitive factors underlying the BDAE. Variables inside each factor were selected
using a high correlation coefficient over .61. However, most
of the variables in the factors presented correlation coefficients over .70. Factor 1 is formed by reading subtests,
Factor 2 includes writing subtests. Factor 3 is formed by
Confrontation Naming, Commands, and Word Discrimination, and underlies a semantic factor. Factor 4 is a semantic
808
High
(SD)
(SD)
F*
70.1
18.5
14.2
8.8
(3.0)
(2.7)
(1.3)
(1.6)
71.5
19.3
14.7
9.5
(1.1)
(1.0)
(0.4)
(1.5)
3.079
1.069
2.765
2.062
.081
.303
.099
.153
29.6
94.6
25.5
27.1
(1.9)
(2.9)
(6.3)
(2.3)
29.1
95.5
26.7
28.8
(4.0)
(1.8)
(6.7)
(1.7)
2.404
0.471
1.334
10.92
.123
.494
.250
.001
30 (0)
9.9 (0.14)
0.067
0.040
.796
.842
9.9 (0.13)
7.7 (0.5)
7.7 (0.4)
10 (0)
7.9 (0.2)
7.8 (0.3)
0.591
0.150
0.205
.443
.699
.652
9.5
7.8
6.3
9.9
9.2
(1.4)
(0.7)
(1.8)
(0.1)
(0.9)
10
7.9
7
10
9.7
(0)
(0.1)
(1.1)
(0)
(0.6)
0.283
0.260
0.028
0.074
0.637
.596
.611
.867
.786
.426
4.9
45.8
13.5
9.7
9.7
11.7
4.9
(0.1)
(5.9)
(1.8)
(1.1)
(1.0)
(1.4)
(0.3)
5
47.2
13.9
9.8
9.9
11.9
4.8
(0)
(1.4)
(0.2)
(0.3)
(0.2)
(0.4)
(0.5)
4.111
0.030
0.635
0.702
0.000
0.069
1.069
.044
.862
.427
.403
.987
.793
.303
29.8 (1.4)
9.8 (0.9)
DISCUSSION
The results of this study demonstrate that there is high variability in the BDAE scores among normal participants. The
subtest score ranges were rather wide. Some participants
scored more than 3 standard deviations below the mean. In
other words, some normal participants scored at the braindamaged range.
The heterogeneity of the BDAE scores was determined
mainly by the participants level of education and, to a lesser
degree, age. Gender did not have a significant effect. However, gender interacted with age and education; although,
the direction of the interaction was determined by education (the highest level, the highest scores) and age (the oldest group, the lowest scores) in both genders. Socioeconomic
status and type of occupation did not have an important effect over the BDAE subtests, but they significantly correlated with education level. In other words, the crucial variable
was the educational level. SES differences may be significant just as a result of the correlation between SES and education. The most important educational differences were
observed between the lowest-educated group (19 years of
education, M 6.4 6 2.4) and the other two groups (1015,
and more than 16).
The study performed by Rosselli et al. (1990a) found a
significantly poor performance on most of the BDAE subtests among subjects with very low education (05 years of
education); likewise Borod et al. (1980) found the lower
scores in participants with fewer than 9 years of schooling.
809
Variable
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation
Animal Naming
Body-Part Naming
Oral Reading
Word Reading
Oral Sentence
Repetition
Words
High Probability
Low Probability
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
Sentences Paragraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
Manual
workers
(n 5 35)
Technicians
(n 5 29)
Office
employees
(n 5 17)
(SD)
(SD)
69.1
17.7
14.0
8.2
(3.6)
(1.6)
(1.3)
(1.9)
70
18
14.2
9.3
(2.5)
(1.4)
(1.7)
(1.6)
29.2
93.5
23.3
26.8
(3.4)
(3.8)
(6.8)
(2.1)
29.9
94.4
24.5
27.8
29.4 (2.5)
9.5 (1.6)
10
(0.0)
7.5 (0.7)
7.6 (0.5)
(SD)
Visuospatial
professionals
(n 5 27)
Verbal
professionals
(n 5 48)
(SD)
(SD)
71
(1.2)
19.2 (1.0)
14.5 (0.6)
9.3 (1.4)
70.8
19.3
14.5
9.2
(2.4)
(1.0)
(0.6)
(1.3)
71
19.1
14.5
9.2
(2.0)
(1.5)
(0.8)
(1.5)
(0.1)
(3.1)
(5.3)
(2.6)
28.8 (4.8)
94.9 (2.9)
27.3 (5.5)
27.4 (2.3)
30
95.8
25.5
28
(0.0)
(0.6)
(6.5)
(2.1)
29.4
95.7
28.1
27.9
(2.9)
(1.0)
(6.3)
(2.3)
30
10
(0.0)
(0.0)
30
(0.0)
9.9 (0.2)
30
9.9
(0.0)
(0.1)
30
9.9
(0.0)
(0.1)
10
7.7
7.8
(0.0)
(0.5)
(0.4)
10
(0.0)
7.8 (0.3)
7.8 (0.3)
9.9
7.9
7.8
(0.1)
(0.3)
(0.3)
9.9
7.9
7.8
(0.1)
(0.2)
(0.3)
9
7.8
5.4
9.9
8.8
(2.2)
(0.5)
(2.2)
(0.2)
(1.3)
9.7
7.7
6.5
10
9.4
(0.9)
(1.3)
(1.5)
(0.0)
(0.8)
9.8
8
7.5
10
9.5
(0.4)
(0.0)
(0.7)
(0.0)
(0.7)
10
7.8
6.7
10
9.7
(0.0)
(0.3)
(1.3)
(0.0)
(0.4)
9.9
7.9
7.0
10
9.6
(0.2)
(0.1)
(1.2)
(0.0)
(0.6)
4.9
42.8
13.3
9.3
9.3
11.2
4.8
(0.1)
(9.4)
(2.1)
(1.8)
(1.8)
(2.5)
(0.6)
5
47.1
13.6
9.8
9.9
12
4.9
(0.0)
(1.8)
(1.8)
(0.3)
(0.18)
(0.0)
(0.3)
4.9
47.2
13.4
10
9.8
12
4.7
(0.2)
(1.7)
(2.4)
(0)
(0.3)
(0.0)
(0.7)
5
47.5
13.8
10
9.9
11.9
4.9
(0)
(1.5)
(0.36)
(0)
(0.2)
(0.3)
(0.2)
4.9
47.2
13.8
9.9
9.9
11.9
4.9
(0.2)
(1.6)
(0.3)
(0.2)
(0.2)
(0.4)
(0.2)
Taken together, these results strongly suggest that low education dramatically influences the BDAE variables, allowing significant low scores.
In Borod et al.s study, seven subtests (Oral Word Reading, Visual Confrontation Naming, Symbol and Word Discrimination, WordPicture Matching, Mechanics of Writing,
Serial Writing, and Primer Level Dictation) were deleted
on the presumption that no failures should be anticipated
from nonaphasic adults. In our study, performance on six of
these seven subtests was significantly decreased in the loweducated participants. Thus, it seems advisable that the
neuropsychological tests used in the assessment of language should include in their normalization sample those
individuals with low education levels. This will reduce the
likelihood of having false positives or committing a Type II
error in clinical practice. Taussig and Ponton (1996), among
others, consider education a significant contributor to neuro-
810
Table 8. Significant Spearmans Rho correlation coefficients ( p , .05) among all variables
Gender
Variable
rs
Gender
Age
Academic achievement
SES
Occupation
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation
Animal Naming
Body-Part Naming
Oral Reading
Word Reading
Oral Sentence
Repetition
Words
High Probability
Low Probability
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
Sentences Paragraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
( p)
Academic
achievement
Age
SES
Occupation
rs
( p)
rs
( p)
rs
( p)
rs
( p)
.09
(ns)
2.17
2.17
(.02)
(.02)
2.05
.05
.44
(ns)
(ns)
(.000)
2.17
2.06
.35
.35
(.02)
(ns)
(.000)
(.000)
2.06
2.18
2.06
.05
(ns)
(.02)
(ns)
(ns)
2.17
.09
2.06
2.01
(.02)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
.31
.34
.13
.25
(.000)
(.000)
(ns)
(.000)
.27
.31
.12
.21
(.000)
(.000)
(ns)
(.007)
.23
.31
.14
.15
(.003)
(.003)
(ns)
(ns)
2.06
2.15
2.03
2.04
(ns)
(.04)
(ns)
(ns)
2.05
2.14
2.24
2.00
(ns)
(ns)
(.003)
(ns)
.05
.32
.42
.25
(ns)
(.000)
(.000)
(.001)
.15
.18
.10
.32
(ns)
(.02)
(ns)
(.000)
.00
.34
.28
.18
(ns)
(.000)
(.000)
(.02)
2.08
2.07
(ns)
(ns)
2.03
2.04
(ns)
(ns)
.25
.20
(.001)
(.009)
.15
.21
(ns)
(.007)
.22
.16
(.005)
(.04)
.00
2.18
2.06
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
.17
2.29
2.23
(.02)
(.000)
(.003)
.03
.17
.14
(ns)
(.03)
(ns)
.03
.17
.09
(ns)
(.03)
(ns)
2.09
.31
.18
(ns)
(.000)
(.02)
2.01
2.01
2.12
2.14
2.25
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(.001)
2.14
.03
2.13
2.12
2.06
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
.35
.04
.41
.22
.30
(.000)
(ns)
(.000)
(.005)
(.000)
.32
.13
.16
.10
.24
(ns)
(ns)
(.03)
(ns)
(.003)
.28
.05
.26
.19
.24
(.001)
(ns)
(.001)
(.01)
(.002)
2.00
2.05
2.01
.02
2.06
2.04
2.03
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
.09
2.18
2.13
2.04
2.11
2.14
.05
(ns)
(.02)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
2.12
.12
.14
.15
.18
.17
.00
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(ns)
(.02)
(.03)
(ns)
.04
.02
.20
.00
.16
.13
.01
(ns)
(ns)
(.01)
(ns)
(.03)
(ns)
(ns)
2.03
.16
.05
.15
.17
.16
.02
(ns)
(.04)
(ns)
(ns)
(.03)
(.04)
(ns)
811
Independent variables
(selected model)
Dependent variables
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
ANOVA
p
4.157
2.246
2.243
2.394
3.169
9.5
13.1
.0001
.0000
3
5.5
.01
.001
Occupation
Age
Academic Achiev.
SES
4.209
22.230
5.804
4.378
9.7
21
.0000
.0000
10.5
.0000
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
2.504
2.901
3.3
4.6
.01
.004
Academic Achiev.
Occupation
Age
Occupation
2.397
2.316
22.573
2.229
12.7
.0000
6.4
.002
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
Sentences Paragraphs
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
4.281
6.372
3.553
4.472
10.1
20.4
7
10.9
.0000
.0000
.0005
.0000
Writing
Serial Writing
Written Confrontation
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Age
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev
Academic Achiev.
22.929
4.736
3.207
3.647
2.980
18
.0000
Naming
Confrontation
Animal Naming
Body-Part Naming
Oral Reading
Word Reading
Oral Sentence
Repetition
High Probability
Low Probability
nificantly influence language comprehension. Word generation turned out to be one of the most sensitive subtests to
level of education. Age, on the other hand, had a significant
effect on just a few of the BDAE subtests. It has been pointed
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
t-value
Full regression,
adj. prediction
percentage
Academic Achiev.
Academic Achiev.
Occupation
SES
Academic Achiev.
Commands
Complex Material
Factor
Fitting results
Eigenvalue
Percentage
of variance
Cumulative
percentage of
variance
7.552
2.971
1.710
1.208
1.171
1.101
1.032
30.2
11.9
6.8
4.8
4.7
4.4
4.1
30.2
42.1
48.9
53.8
58.5
62.9
67.0
5.7
7.4
4.8
.001
.0004
.003
out that education has a stronger effect than age on neuropsychological test performance (Ardila & Rosselli, 1989).Albert and Heaton (1988) suggested that, when education is
controlled, no significant changes on verbal intelligence would
be observed among elderly populations. One or two years of
schooling may be enough to produce a significant change on
the scores of verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, and conceptual abilities tests (Ostrosky-Solis et al., 1998).
SES had a minimal effect over the BDAE subtests. Only in
Body-Part Naming did high-SES individuals outscore lowSES participants. The influence of SES on psychological tests
(Anastasi, 1988) is frequently mentioned but poorly understood. Poor test performance has been described in low-SES
groups. This SES effect, however, may indeed be the result of
its significant association with educational level. In our study,
the correlation between SES and education level was .44.
The effects of SES frequently interact with other demographic variables. Craik et al. (1987) observed that memory
loss associated with aging was linked to SES. Ardila and Rosselli (1994) found that naming, verbal fluency, and verbal com-
812
Factor
Variable
Correlation
coefficients
1. Oral Reading
Words
Sentences
.90
.85
2. Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Serial Writing
Spelling to Dictation
.74
.73
.70
3. Semantic
Confrontation Naming
Commands Comprehension
Word Discrimination
.75
.63
.61
4. Semantic Fluency
Animals Naming
.78
5. Lexical Graphic
Attention
.82
6. Repetition
Word Repetition
.86
7. Motor
Writing Mechanics
.92
Although an analysis of the effect of demographic variables on the BDAESpanish version was previously reported by Rosselli et al. (1990), the present study adds the
following aspects:
1. The current study uses the latest BDAESpanish version. Rosselli et al.s study used the first BDAE edition.
2. The number of demographic variables analyzed here is
higher. Rosselli et al. (1990a) analyzed only the effects
of age, education, and gender. The current study analyzes not only the effects of age, education, and gender,
but also SES and occupation effects.
3. It advances the statistical analysis of the BDAE: Multiple regression analysis and stepwise regression analyses
were developed in order to define the prediction capability of several independent categorical variables on the
variance of each dependent numeric continuous variable. A factor analysis was performed using an orthogonal varimax rotation to disclose the factors underlying
the BDAE subtests.
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814
APPENDIX
BDAE subtest
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Automatic Speech
Automated Sentences
Singing & Rhythm
Repetition
Words
High Probability
Low Probability
Oral Reading
Words
Oral Sentences
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation Naming
Body-Part Naming
Animal Naming
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
SentencesParagraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Naming
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
Education (years)
19
1015
.16
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
70.1
18.1
14.0
8.3
30.0 (0)
9.9 (0.2)
27.8
93.8
26.6
21.3
29.1
95.8
28.1
29.6
8.8
7.9
5.6
9.9
8.3
(6.0)
(3.2)
(2.4)
(6.0)
29.9
95.7
27.1
26.4
(0.4)
(0.9)
(2.5)
(5.8)
(4.2)
(0.7)
(1.9)
(4.8)
5.0 (0)
5.0 (0)
4.9 (0.3)
44.7 (7.2) 47.2 (1.5) 47.6 (0.9)
13.3 (1.1) 13.7 (1.7) 14.0 (0)
8.9
9.2
10.7
4.8
BDAE subtest
Comprehension
Word Discrimination
Body-Part Identification
Commands
Complex Material
Automatic Speech
Automated Sentences
Singing & Rhythm
Repetition
Words
High Probability
Low Probability
Oral Reading
Words
Oral Sentences
Naming
Responsive Naming
Confrontation Naming
Body-Part Naming
Animal Naming
Reading Comprehension
Symbol Discrimination
Word Recognition
Oral Spelling
WordPicture Matching
SentencesParagraphs
Writing
Mechanics
Serial Writing
Primer-Level Dictation
Written Confrontation
Naming
Spelling to Dictation
Sentences to Dictation
Narrative Writing
19
1015
.16
M (SD)
M (SD)
M (SD)
68.9
18.4
14.0
7.9
30.0 (0)
9.9 (0.2)
30.0
91.1
26.4
21.0
(0)
(5.5)
(2.7)
(4.2)
29.9
95.5
28.5
28.5
9.4
8.0
5.3
10.0
9.1
29.2
94.7
28.0
24.0
(3.8)
(3.0)
(2.2)
(6.9)
(0.6)
(2.3)
(2.2)
(2.2)
5.0 (0)
4.9 (0.2) 4.9 (0.2)
42.3 (6.8) 47.8 (1.5) 47.4 (1.2)
13.5 (0.9) 13.9 (0.3) 13.6 (1.9)
9.8
9.4
12.0
5.0