How we compensate for memory loss in old age: Adapting and validating the Memory Compensation Questionnaire (MCQ) for Spanish populations Juan Carlos Mele ´ ndez a, *, Teresa Mayordomo a , Alicia Sales b , Marı ´a Jose ´ Cantero a , Paz Viguer a a Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain b Department of Methodology for the Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain 1. Introduction Aging places people in scenarios that, at least in part, involve changes that can result in adverse or threatening situations. Faced with these changes, people make an effort, whether automatically or consciously, to adjust to new circumstances brought on by the aging process. The process of adaptation is understood as hinging on one’s ability to change the way he or she operates in order to achieve successful aging. Researchers from the perspective of life span theory (Baltes, 1997; Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998) link the concept of plasticity to the ability to adapt. They argue that adaptation does not imply a predetermined developmental path. Instead, everyone has room for maneuvering, a potential for flexibility that enables them to change course, or alter the choices they make. This plastic ability is described in the Model of Selective Optimization with Compensation (Baltes, 1997), according to which subjects choose certain goals or domains of behavior according to the potential challenges, threats, and demands they may present, employing means and resources as efficiently as possible to achieve their goals and adapt to the situation at hand. If means or resources that are required in order to adjust are lacking or somehow lost, subjects enact compensatory responses, either by acquiring new resources to replace those lost or by altering their developmental goals to correct the deficiency. In terms of cognition, one of the main challenges facing the elderly is that memory loss increases with age. This makes adaptation difficult because they have fewer available resources to draw on. Compensatory mechanisms, then, are activated to allow for effective response to one’s contextual demands. Ba ¨ckman and Dixon (1992) argue that compensation serves to overcome, or at least reduce, loss or impairment in a variety of mechanisms and processes in an attempt to maximize performance and counteract decline. This allows both implicit and explicit adaptive strategies to develop. Implicit strategies are brain structures or networks that can be activated when deterioration takes place. Explicit strategies, meanwhile, are understood as something akin to a reorganizing process in which decline is compensated for by acquiring alternative behavioral and cognitive strategies (Diaz, Buiza, & Yanguas, 2009). In the case of implicit strategies, patterns of activation suggest that alternative areas of the brain are used to counteract the cognitive decline associated with brain aging (Park et al., 2004). Increased functional brain activity, especially in the frontal cortex, is what Park and Reuter-Lorenz (2009) refer to as compensatory scaffolding. This is when in later life, additional neural circuits are engaged to make up for decline in structures whose functioning has become ‘‘noisy,’’ ineffective, or both. According to Rodrı ´guez and Sa ´ nchez (2004), this concept is linked to neurogenesis, that is, the brain’s ability to create new neurons and/or synapses that connect to existing neural pathways. Thus, once pathological processes start to occur, subjects use alternative networks to successfully carry out tasks and maintain a normal clinical status. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 56 (2013) 32–37 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 21 February 2012 Received in revised form 25 June 2012 Accepted 26 June 2012 Available online 19 July 2012 Keywords: Compensation Elderly Structural equation model Validity A B S T R A C T Compensating entails using external strategies and mechanisms that help overcome or alleviate the decreasing memory function that comes with age. This study aims to adapt and validate the MCQ in the elderly Spanish population. A total of 403 elderly people aged between 65 and 92 in the city of Valencia (Spain) completed the questionnaire for the validation process. The factorial validity of the scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The result showed a first order five-factor model with 23 items that met the criteria for model fit according to multiple fit indices. As a general conclusion, the adaptation into Spanish provided a reliable and valid measure of compensation in the elderly population, and it could potentially be useful in both clinical practice and research in the elderly. ß 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Av. Blasco Iban ˜ez, 21, Valencia 46010, Spain. Tel.: +34 963983844; fax: +34 963864671. E-mail address: melendez@uv.es (J.C. Mele ´ ndez). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics jo ur n al ho mep ag e: www .elsevier .c om /lo cate/ar c hg er 0167-4943/$ – see front matter ß 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2012.06.018