The Concurrent Validity of the PAT in the Selection of Tabulating Machine Operators

Summary: Thirty-five elementary school children received the WISC, Rorschach, CAT, anti Sentence Completion Test in counterbalanced order with a test-test interval of approximately 24 hours. State and trait anxiety measures were assessed immediately prior to and immediately following each test administration. Results indicated that state anxiety measures increased significantly following administration of the more ambigious and school related assessment tests, namely the Rorschach and WISC. In contrast, the more structured, less amorphous CAT and Sentence Completion Test, did not induce any significant changes in state anxiety. In all cases, trait anxiety measures remained relatively stable. Implications for assessment techniques with children were discussed.     

Test-induced anxiety with children.

Thirty-five elementary school children received the WISC, Rorschach, CAT, and Sentence Completion Test in counterbalanced order with a test-test interval of approximately 24 hours. State and trait anxiety measures were assessed immediately prior to and immediately following each test administration. Results indicated that state anxiety measures increased significantly following administration of the more ambigious and school related assessment tests, namely the Rorschach and WISC. In contrast, the more structured, less amorphous CAT and Sentence Completion Test, did not induce any significant changes in state anxiety. In all cases, trait anxiety measures remained relatively stable. Implications for assessment techniques with children were discussed.     

The Effects of Personality Tests on State and Trait Anxiety

52 college student volunteers received the MMPI, Rorschach, TAT, and Sentence Completion Test in counterbalanced order with a test-retest interval of approximately 24 hours. State and trait anxiety measures were assessed immediately prior to and immediately following each test administration. Results indicated that state anxiety measures increased significantly following administration of the more ambiguous, unstructured test stimuli, namely the Rorschach and TAT. In contrast, the more structured, direct assessment methods, namely the MMPI and Sentence Completion Test, did not induce any significant changes in state anxiety. In all cases, trait anxiety measures remained relatively stable.     

Cross-Cultural Attitude Assessment With the Miale-Holsopple Sentence Completion Test

Certain sentence stems in the 73 item Miale-Holsopple Sentence Completion Test can be interpreted as open-ended attitude questions, revealing world views in particular societies. Sentence stems #7, "The easiest way to get money;" #8, "Twenty years from now;" #18, "The white girl who married the black man;" #48, "A naked man;" and #54, "A woman's body" were selected for cross-cultural study. Thirty-nine American college students answered the standard form of the Miale-Holsopple, and 60 Brazilian students answered a Portuguese version of this test. American students gave more positive work ethic responses to stems #7 and #8 and more negative responses to interracial marriages than did Brazilians. The Brazilian females gave more positive responses to stem #54 than did American women.     

Attention Deficits in Children with < 750 gm Birth Weight

Although attention deficit disorders are frequently diagnosed in low birth-weight children, it is not clear if attention problems are apparent in neuropsychological testing. The present study examined the performances of a regional sample of 68 children with birth weights <750 gm on several psychometric measures of attention given at early school age. Matched groups of 65 children with birth weights between 750–1499 gm and 61 term controls were also assessed. The group <750 gm performed more poorly on one attention test than did either comparison group, even when overall cognitive ability was taken into account. Performances on the attention tests were also related to academic skills and ratings of behavior. Findings confirm the hypothesis that children with birth weights <750 gm have specific attentional weaknesses and support the validity of attention tests as predictors of learning and behavior problems.     

The impact of modified instructions on ego-level scores: a psychometric hazard or indication of optimal ego level?

Various modified instructions have different effects on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test for Ego Development (Loevinger, 1985). These effects were reviewed and 2 alternative explanations were explored: The "measurement unreliability explanation" versus the "optimal level explanation." Both explanations were systematically studied in 2 test-retest experiments with the Sentence Completion Test for Children and Youths (Westenberg, Treffers, & Drewes, 1998). The modified instructions were to make a favorable impression on the tester ("fake good" condition) or to complete the sentences in as adult and mature a manner as one can ("be mature" condition). Both experiments were conducted with 9- to 15-year-old children and adolescents (N = 127, 128). As was anticipated, neither the fake good nor the be mature condition yielded higher (or lower) reliability indexes as compared to the standard instructions, hence discounting the measurement unreliability explanation. Also as expected, the fake good condition did not yield significantly higher ego-level scores, whereas the be mature condition did yield significantly higher ego-level scores. The former instructions did not convey information relevant to the construct or measure of ego development, whereas the latter instructions did convey information relevant for raising ego-level scores. It is argued that the higher scores under the be mature instructions might reflect the respondents' "optimal" ego level (best functioning), whereas the ego-level score under the standard instructions might reflect their "functional" level (normal functioning).     

A comparison of the psychological profiles of teenage mothers and their nonmother peers: I. Ego development.

Two projective techniques were employed to explore the psychological characteristics of teenage mothers who were found, in a previous study, to have experienced more traumatic childhoods than the nonmother control group. Part I, presented here, investigated ego development using the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test. (Part II, responses to a set of TAT cards, will appear in a subsequent issue of Adolescence.) In comparison with the nonmothers, teenage mothers demonstrated more mature ego development. This is in distinct contrast with most reports in the literature, and the ramifications of these results are discussed. In addition, content analyses of the responses to the Sentence Completion Test confirm the highly involved mother-daughter and negative father-daughter relationships found in the previous study with this sample.     

Stories of Life Transition: Subjective Well-Being and Ego Development in Parents of Children with Down Syndrome

Eighty-seven parents of children with Down Syndrome (DS; 63 women, 24 men) wrote narratives about finding out that their child had DS and completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and stress-related growth and completed the Sentence Completion Test as a measure of ego development. Forty-two of these individuals participated in a follow-up 2 years later. Foreshadowing and happy endings in the stories were related to heightened SWB at both time periods. Evidence of accommodative change—actively experiencing a paradigmatic shift—was related to stress-related growth and ego development at both time periods. A high sense of closure and accommodation in the stories was associated with the highest levels of stress-related growth. Implications for research on well-being and personal growth are discussed.     

Effects of modified instructions on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development

This research project was designed to investigate the possibility that asking subjects to respond in a mature manner when they take the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (WUSCTED) would result in higher test scores and improve the test-retest reliability of the measure. The results showed that there was a significant increase in Total Protocol Ratings (TPRs) and item sums in the experimental group (n = 32) over the control group (n = 32). In addition, the experimental group spent more time and used significantly more words in its response than did the control group. The question of improved test-retest reliability remains only tentatively resolved. The item sum scores showed a significantly higher correlation for the experimental instruction than for the control, although the test-retest agreement between TPR levels was insignificantly different in the two instructional groups.     

Sex differences in the course of personality development: a meta-analysis.

Size and stability of sex differences in personality growth throughout adolescence and adulthood are examined. Studies using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of ego development served as the primary source data. Sixty-five studies (encompassing more than 9,000 Ss) generated 113 independent effect sizes. Sex differences in ego development were moderately large among junior and senior high-school students (female advantage), declined significantly among college-age adults, and disappeared entirely among older men and women. Sex differences were relatively stable during early and middle adolescence. The greater maturity displayed by adolescent girls is not an artifact of superior verbal abilities. Sex differences in ego development were more than twice the magnitude of differences in vocabulary skills (Hyde & Linn, 1988). The present findings, together with findings from reviews of sex differences in moral judgment, aggression, and empathy, suggest that adolescent girls achieve developmental milestones earlier than boys, a difference that declines with age.     

A critical review of the validity of ego development theory and its measurement.

Loevinger's (1976) theory of ego development represents an important and original approach to understanding personality development. More than 20 years have elapsed since the last substantial critical review of the validity of the theory and its measurement (Loevinger, 1979). Our article provides an updated critical review of the theory by reviewing the considerable body of research that has accumulated over the past 20 years. This review addresses the construct, predictive, and discriminant validity of ego development theory and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Loevinger & Wessler, 1970; Loevinger, Wessler, & Redmore, 1970) as its measurement. We conclude that there is substantial empirical support for the conceptual soundness of ego development theory and the WUSCT.     

Response to two presentations of the Sentence Completion Test of ego development

This was a study of the differences among individuals on their performance on oral and written versions of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of ego development. The study included 192 subjects from three age groups: College age, community residents, and retired people. No oral versus written differences were found in scores. Gender was the only factor to exhibit a consistently significant effect on Sentence Completion Test score differences.     

盲童的空间概念及其组织

以63名盲童为被试, 对17对空间词作相似性的分类。结果表明：⑴盲童的空间词概念结构有两个维度：①状态/方位;②自身参照/他物参照。⑵盲童的空间认知围绕着4个主题：①身体周围的三维方位;②空间距离;③三维边界;④空间状态。⑶视觉的缺失决定着盲童的空间词组织的特点, 语言、文化和教育对盲童的空间概念及其组织也具有重要影响。     

Gender and Sequelae of Child Versus Adult Onset of Sexual Victimization: Body Mass,Binge Eating,and Promiscuity

This research investigated gender differences in and behavioral sequelae of adult vs. childhood sexual victimization among a group of undergraduates in a midwestern city. We administered a survey about sexual experiences, eating habits, and weight to individuals who were first victimized in childhood (< age 15); were first victimized in adulthood (> age 18); or had not been sexually victimized. We predicted that those victimized as children would have higher body weight and display more sexual activity than would those victimized as adults. We demonstrated that participants victimized in childhood had significantly higher body mass and weight than did nonvictims or those victimized in adulthood. Men sexually abused as children displayed more promiscuity than did men victimized in adulthood.     

Matters of conscience and conscientiousness: the place of ego development in the Five-factor model

The Five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990) and Loevinger's (1994) theory of ego development are two active research traditions that are often construed as incompatible approaches to the study of personality. For example, each theory proposes a different view of the concept of conscientiousness. Loevinger argued that FFM conscientiousness, which emphasizes attributes such as order, self-discipline, and achievement striving, lacks a moral component and is more similar to the conformist stage in her theory. To investigate these claims, we administered the Revised NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) to 120 university students on 2 separate occasions. Together, the five traits of the FFM significantly predicted item sum scores from the WUSCT (multiple R = .54). Unique linear relationships of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness with ego level demonstrated that the two theories proposed similar constructs. We argue that these two FFM dimensions have conceptual relevance to the cognitive and interpersonal aspects of the ego development construct. We draw further connections between these FFM dimensions, ego development, and human values.     

“Hunting with a knife and … fork”: Examining central coherence in autism,attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder,and typical development with a linguistic task

A local processing bias, referred to as “weak central coherence,” has been postulated to underlie key aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Little research has examined whether individual differences in this cognitive style can be found in typical development, independent of intelligence, and how local processing relates to executive control. We present a brief and easy-to-administer test of coherence requiring global sentence completions. We report results from three studies assessing (a) 176 typically developing (TD) 8- to 25-year-olds, (b) individuals with ASD and matched controls, and (c) matched groups with ASD or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The results suggest that the Sentence Completion Task can reveal individual differences in cognitive style unrelated to IQ in typical development, that most (but not all) people with ASD show weak coherence on this task, and that performance is not related to inhibitory control. The Sentence Completion Task was found to be a useful test instrument, capable of tapping local processing bias in a range of populations.     

On relations among perceptual and cognitive measures of information processing

Tests of visual information processing and verbal information processing were administered to 178 Ss. Intercorrelations showed low positive relationships between two sets of two cognitive measures each, the Sentence Completion Test (Schroder, Driver, & Streufert, 1967) and the Interpersonal Topical Inventory (Tuckman, 1965), and the Interpersonal Topical Inventory and the Polarity Scale (1965), and a high negative correlation between preference for highly complex and for moderately complex visual stimuli. Factor analysis showed three reliable major factors. There was little evidence for a relationship between perceptual and cognitive processing characteristics, which indicates some danger for general theorists.     

Reliability of a sentence completion measure of ego development.

Studied the reliability of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test by giving 51 9th graders and 26 college students the test twice, a week apart. For 9th graders the design included a test-retest group and two groups given half of the test at each session. Although test-retest correlations were high for the 9th graders, retest scores dropped significantly. With college students (a) test-retest correlations through positive and significant were lower, (b) retest scores did not change systematically, and (c) percentage agreement between test and retest scores was high. Discrepant results were related to motivational set and variance in test scores. Split-half correlations and internal consistency coefficients were high. Likelihood of lower retest scores makes problematic the use of this test for short term pretest-posttest studies seeking to stimulate ego development.     

Autonomic Responses to Head-Up Tilt Test in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders often manifested by social and behavioral deficiencies. Autonomic dysfunction is frequently reported in the autistic population but the mechanisms remain largely unknown. We aimed to characterize the cardiac autonomic profile of children with autism during a head-up tilt test. Thirty-nine male children were recruited: 19 controls (9.9 ± 1.6 years) and 20 children with ASD without intellectual disability (10.7 ± 1.2 years). Each child underwent a head-up tilt test on a motorized tilt table. After a 10 min resting period in the supine position, subjects were tilted head-up to 70° on the table for 10 min. Heart rate and blood pressure variabilities were continuously recorded using non-invasive Nexfin monitoring. The head-up tilt test significantly altered heart rate variability (p < 0.001 for both groups) and greater parasympathetic responses were found in the ASD group compared to controls (p < 0.05). In the supine position baroreflex sensitivity was higher in children with ASD than in the controls (p < 0.05) and significantly decreased during the tilt test in the ASD group, but not in controls. Our results showed that children with ASD did not have clinical signs of dysautonomia in response to a head-up tilt test. However, in children with ASD higher parasympathetic responses with the same sympathetic modulations during orthostatic stress suggest parasympathetic dominance in this population.     

Assessing inhibitory control in early-stage Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease using the Hayling Sentence Completion Test

The ability to inhibit irrelevant information is essential for coping with the demands of everyday life. Inhibitory deficits are present in all stages of dementia and commonly observed in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Inhibition is frequently tested with the Stroop test, but this may lack ecological validity. This study investigates inhibitory control in people with Alzheimer's disease dementia (PwD) and PwPD using the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT), which aspires to be a more ecologically valid task. A total of 117 people completed the HSCT, a test where participants have to complete a sentence with an unrelated word. The sample comprised 30 PwD, 33 PwPD, and 54 healthy older controls. We compared response times and the number and type of errors across the three groups. Completion time in Part B (Inhibition) did not distinguish between PwD, PwPD, and controls when controlling for the initiation speed, but a higher proportion of Category A errors (producing a word that fits the sentence when instructed otherwise) was a unique characteristic of inferior performance in PwD and PwPD. While not part of the standard test scoring protocol, controlling for the initiation speed and distinguishing between speed and accuracy in test performance appear to be essential for accurate evaluation of the inhibitory control in HSCT in older people. The findings suggest that the HSCT may be sensitive to verbal suppression deficits and may provide insight into inhibitory control in PwD and PwPD.