Table 1.
Participant Characteristics for Young and Older Bilinguals Who Were Able to Complete Both Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Switching Tasks
| Young bilinguals (n = 30)
|
Older bilinguals (n = 22)
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | SD | M | SD | |
| Age | 20.7 | 2.2 | 75.6** | 8.7 |
| % Female | 73.3% | N/A | 73.0% | N/A |
| Education | 14.1 | 1.1 | 14.0 | 2.2 |
| Age first exposure to English | 4.0 | 3.3 | 6.6* | 5.8 |
| Age first exposure to Spanish | 0.4 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 8.0 |
| % Currently using Spanish | 24.2 | 17.4 | 28.7 | 26.4 |
| % Grow up using Spanish | 45.8 | 19.3 | 58.0+ | 32.9 |
| How often speak to bilinguals currentlya | 2.7 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 1.1 |
| How often speak to bilinguals growing upa | 3.0 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 1.3 |
| DRS | N/A | N/A | 136.8 | 4.2 |
| MMSE | N/A | N/A | 28.3 | 1.7 |
| MINT English percent correct | 88.9 | 6.8 | 88.7 | 11.8 |
| MINT Spanish percent correct | 73.9 | 12.2 | 76.9 | 12.6 |
| Self-ratingsb | ||||
| English speak | 6.5 | 0.7 | 5.9* | 1.2 |
| English listen | 6.7 | 0.6 | 6.1* | 1.3 |
| English write | 6.5 | 0.8 | 5.8* | 1.4 |
| English read | 6.8 | 0.6 | 6.1** | 1.0 |
| Spanish speak | 6.2 | 0.9 | 5.8 | 1.2 |
| Spanish listen | 6.0 | 1.0 | 5.4+ | 1.7 |
| Spanish write | 5.3 | 1.2 | 5.0 | 1.8 |
| Spanish read | 6.6 | 0.6 | 6.0* | 1.1 |
Note. DRS = Dementia Rating Scale; MMSE = Mini Mental State Examination; MINT = Multilingual Naming Test.
The following 7-point scale was used: 1 = rarely or never, 2 = less than 1 hr/day, 3 = about 1 hr/day, 4 = about 2 hr/day, 5 = about 3– 4 hr/day, 6 = about 5 hr/day, and 7 = 6 or more hr/day.
Self-ratings were based on a 7-point scale: 1 = almost none, 2 = very poor, 3 = fair, 4 = functional, 5 = good, 6 = very good, and 7 = like native speaker.
Marginally significant t test comparing older adults to young adults (p < .10).
Significant t test comparing older adults to young adults (p < .05).
Significant t test comparing older adults to young adults (p < .01).