Mary Geary

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

This study examined whether knowledge of Alzheimer's disease (AD), self-efficacy, self-reported memory ability, and proximity to the disease predict people’s fears about it. In all, 194 participants aged 18 to 88 completed the General Self-Efficacy scale, the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge scale, and the General Rating, Frequency of Forgetting, Remembering Past Events, and Seriousness subscales of the Memory Functioning Questionnaire, as well as six questions assessing six specific fears relating to AD. These were: fear of financial consequences of the disease, being a burden to family members, being stigmatized, losing one's memories, losing one's autonomy, and losing one's sense of self. Participants also indicated whether they had known or been a caretaker for someone with the disease. Results showed that greater knowledge of AD was a predictor of greater fear overall and specifically of fear of losing one's identity or being a burden to family. Surprisingly, older age correlated with less fear of memory loss, suggesting that younger people may feel they have more to lose than people who have experienced some memory decline due to aging. High average scores for all six specific fears indicate that certain fears may be widely or universally held, regardless of people’s personal experiences.

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