Afinal issue is when SMC are examined across the life span. A middle-aged
adult reporting a decline in memory from prior levels that causes daily interference
may be quite different than an older adult who reports a decline in memory from
prior levels that is judged no worse than age-matched peers and does not cause
daily interference or significant worry.Anosognosia, a lack of awareness of deficits,
plays a role later in life, when the clinical signs of dementia are already apparent; in
midlife, heightened awareness of or concern over memory lapses may be influenced
by the cognitive demands of an individual’s profession. Currently, there is a paucity
of literature examining whether the content, correlates, or causes of SMC differ
across the life span. Initial work demonstrates that young adults attribute SMC more
to extrinsic factors, such as emotional problems and tension, whereas older adults
attribute SMC to irreversible factors such as age (Ponds et al. 1997 ). Further, the
content of SMC differs, with young adults more often reporting taking notes and
being told by others that they were forgetful, and older adults more frequently
reporting having general memory complaints and being transiently confused (Gino
et al. 2010 ). In employed adults, SMC relate to work stressors and overall stress
(Stenfors et al. 2014 ), and in older adults, SMC relate to negative aging stereotypes
(Sindi et al. 2012 ). Much more work is needed to determine whether young,
middle-aged, and older adults have qualitatively different SMC, if SMC are influ-
enced differentially by comorbid symptoms, and if they reflect changes in brain
structure and function.
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13 Subjective Memory Complaints and Objective Memory Performance 295