[The influence of subjective complaints on achievement and emotional perception in old age]

A group of elderly persons, 55 to 75 years old, were randomly selected to participate in a study. Persons with severe somatic illnesses were excluded. The remaining sample was administered a battery of self-report questionnaires performance tests. An analysis of variance was computed on the findings with age, sex, and number of complaints (subjective malaise) as factors. Significance age-related differences were found on the questionnaires and performance parameters. Sex-related differences were found only on the self-report questionnaires. Malaise-related differences were discernible on the performance tests and were very striking on the self-report questionnaires. It is concluded that the dichotomy subjective malaise is a significant predictor of differences in the level of cognitive ability and emotional stability for this sample of elderly persons.