Perceived Threat of Alzheimer Disease (AD)

The fear of developing Alzheimer disease (AD) is highly salient, particularly for biologic family members. The current study evaluated social/cognitive explanations for perceived AD threat beyond genetic relatedness, including personal experience with AD, belief in negative aging stereotypes, and performance on delayed memory tasks. Participants were 97 healthy older adults aged 50 to 85, self-referred for a free community memory screen. Results showed that, as expected, personal AD experience was related to perceived AD threat. Furthermore, consistent with expectations, AD experience moderated the relationship between perceived AD threat and other explanatory variables, including age, belief in negative aging stereotypes, and cognitive performance. In those with AD experience, whether genetic or not, younger age was associated with more perceived AD threat, but an inverse relationship was seen in those without AD experience. Those with genetic AD experience seem particularly vulnerable to the effects of negative age stereotype beliefs on perceived AD threat, and show an inverse relationship between their actual cognitive performance and their perception of personal AD threat. Results highlight the importance of considering personal experience with AD when assessing a person's self-reported concerns about AD or his/her own memory changes.