Financial capacity (FC), which subsumes several complex, representative financial dimensions, refers to the ability to handle one?s finances efficiently. Emerging research in older adults has found that FC is heavily susceptible to age-related changes in cognitive abilities, brain volume and to affective factors such as depression and anxiety. Older adults have been, therefore, found to be in a precarious position of being physically and mentally abused for financial gains, duped via scams, exploited and are, thus, especially at risk for mismanaging their finances. This increases the financial loss and fiscal burden at an individual and societal level making it urgent to examine factors associated with FC to help with identification and prevention of such risky behaviors. Existing studies have not comprehensively examined the multidimensional FC construct as a function of age wherein well-learned, crystallized abilities may be persevered relative to abilities requiring novel problem-solving. Moreover, very few studies in older adults have focused on FC and cognitive abilities, volumetric changes, and affective changes, and such studies have been circumscribed and restricted in the number of abilities that they have been able to examine, and have not taken a developmental perspective to examine FC as a function of age. The overarching purpose of the current proposal is to fill in these gaps in the literature by using data from ongoing, R01 studies at Columbia University Medical Center, and by obtaining FC information from a standardized measure. The first two specific aims of the study are to examine the extent to which age is associated with specific FC dimensions, and to investigate the cognitive, volumetric, and affective correlates of FC dimensions with a specific focus on older adults. A third, novel aim of the proposal is to characterize FC awareness in older adults and determine its cognitive, volumetric, and mood correlates. FC awareness, which refers to an individual?s awareness of his or her level of FC ability, will be obtained from an objective, experimental metacognitive task that was specifically designed for this study. In older adults, intact awareness of one?s cognitive abilities (metacognition), is likely to be a critical factor in preserving everyday functioning and decision making, including that related to FC. Conversely, reduced FC awareness could further increase an older adult?s vulnerability to financial loss.
Aim 3 seeks to identify factors associated with reduced FC awareness and thus reduce the negative consequences associated with financial loss. Results obtained from the proposed study will yield critical information to identify the nature and correlates of FC in older adults, and provide vital clues regarding how and why older adults make potentially risky financial decisions.
There is emerging evidence that financial capacity (FC), a complex, multidimensional construct, has a combination of cognitive, neural and affective underpinnings, thus rendering it particularly vulnerable to aging and placing older adults at risk for financial mismanagement or exploitation. This study seeks to characterize the manner in which specific aspects of aging related to cognition, brain volume, and affective functioning influence the various dimensions of FC, and the extent to which older adults are aware of their FC ability and factors influencing their FC awareness. Findings from this project will help to identify and reduce the risks of financial scams, exploitation, and mismanagement, and thus play a critical role in formulating public policies geared towards protecting older adults.
