The Boston Naming Test in Swedish: normative data

The purpose of the present study was to introduce a Swedish version of the Boston Naming Test and to offer normative data based on a sample of native Swedish-speaking healthy adults stratified concerning age, gender, and length of education. The subjects were assessed with other lexical tests and half of the group also performed tests of global cognitive function. A semantic analysis of the responses was performed and the typical Swedish naming of the pictures of BNT was investigated. The results showed that long education, high performance on tests of global cognitive ability (FSIQ), verbal fluency, and other lexical tests had a significant positive association to a good performance on BNT whereas age and gender had a minor influence. The response analysis showed that the more difficult an item was, the more variations in the response pattern. To conclude, the Boston Naming Test is appropriate for use in a Swedish-speaking context and an effective test for assessment of naming ability.     

Normative data for the Boston Naming Test in native Dutch-speaking Belgian children and the relation with intelligence

This paper reports the results of a normative study of the 60-item version of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a group of 371 native Dutch-speaking Flemish children between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Analysis of test results revealed that BNT performance was significantly affected by age and gender. The gathered norms were shown to be significantly lower than published norms for comparable North-American children. Error analysis disclosed remarkable similarities with data from elderly subjects, with verbal semantic paraphasias and 'don't know' responses occurring most frequently. Finally, BNT scores were shown to correlate strongly with general intelligence as measured with the Raven Progressive Matrices. The relation between both measures can be of help in the diagnosis of identification naming deficits and impaired word-retrieval capacities.     

Normative Data for the Boston Naming Test in Native Dutch-Speaking Belgian Elderly

A normative study of the 60-item version of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) was performed in a group of 200 native Dutch-speaking Flemish elderly. Analysis of test results revealed that BNT performance in Dutch is significantly affected by age, years of education, and gender. Error analysis disclosed verbal semantic paraphasias to occur as the most frequent error type (1/3 errors). “Don't know responses,” verbal semantic paraphasias, and adequate circumlocutions were found on at least 30 different BNT items and constituted the most diffusely distributed error types. Following a careful review of other normative BNT studies, group characteristics rather than cultural differences were found to account for the difference in the overall mean scores. Our study surprisingly revealed that, as far as American–English, Australian–English and Dutch-speaking elderly are concerned, linguistics do not have an impact on the overall mean BNT score. A linguistic impact, however, clearly holds on the qualitative levels of performance, reflected by fundamental differences in the error distribution in different languages. Language-related BNT characteristics therefore stress the need for specific adaptations of norms.     

The Boston Naming Test and Swedish children: Normative Data and response analysis

The present study concerns responses to the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a sample of native Swedish-speaking children between the ages of 6 and 15. Normative data are presented not only for the number of correct responses but also for the frequency of types of substitutive responses on the BNT. The study involved 152 children and adolescents from four different grades (kindergarten, third grade, sixth grade, and ninth grade). For the sample, a normal distribution of test subjects was sought, including both linguistically weaker and stronger students from school classes in representative areas. The results for the Swedish children and adolescents were slightly lower than the American norms for the BNT. A classification was undertaken of the non-target-word responses, which showed that there were significant differences in the use of the various semantic response categories among the grades. As expected, the younger children gave more unspecific responses and also omitted more responses than the older children. Based on the results of this study, it can be maintained that despite cultural and linguistic differences, the BNT is applicable for examining the vocabulary and word retrieval abilities of native Swedish-speaking children and adolescents.     

Normative data for the Hope Scale using Australian adolescents

The Hope Scale (HS) shows promise as an initial resource to help identify adolescents who lack valuable cognitive strategies needed to reach and maintain mental health. The purpose of the current study was to establish normative data for the HS in Australian adolescents (13–17 years), and to determine whether total hope or subscale scores differed across age, gender, or geographical location. Participants (N = 3913) were recruited from 41 secondary schools throughout regional and metropolitan South Australia. Significant differences were found in total hope scores across age and region and in pathways scores across age, region, and gender. Normative scores are provided.     

Bilingual Performance on the Boston Naming Test: Preliminary Norms in Spanish and English

A total of 100 young educated bilingual adults were administered the Boston Naming Test (BNT) (Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 1983) in both Spanish and English. Three group performance scores were obtained: English only, Spanish only, and a composite score indicating the total number of items correctly named independent of language. The scores for the entire group were significantly greater in English than in Spanish. An additional set of analyses explored individual differences in picture naming performance across the two languages as measured by the BNT. For a subset of the larger group (n= 25) there were significant differences in composite over single language scoring, but no significant differences between Spanish and English. Item analyses of correct responses were conducted in both languages to explore the construct validity of the standardized administration of the BNT with this population. There was much greater variability in responses over the Spanish items for this bilingual group. The results of a correlation analysis of information obtained from the initial questionnaire with the BNT scores in each language is also reported. The practical implications of this preliminary bilingual BNT normative data are discussed.     

Performance of normal elderly on the Boston Naming Test

The Boston Naming Test has enjoyed increasing use in many research studies since its introduction. However, there is little normative data on the age group above 60 years of age. This study presents data from a sample of 58 well-defined healthy elderly males and females between the ages of 60 and 85. In comparison with published normative data, our sample has higher means, smaller standard deviations, and narrower ranges. These results suggest that aging alone does not significantly alter recognition-cued word-finding ability as defined by the Boston Naming Test. Also there is remarkably consistent performance throughout our age range.     

Lives in a balance: perceived family functioning and the psychosocial adjustment of adolescent cancer survivors.

Childhood cancer patients have a greater likelihood of long-term survival than ever before. This study examined both the perceived family functioning of adolescents who had successfully completed treatment for pediatric cancer and the relationship between family functioning and post-treatment adjustment. Eighty-eight adolescent survivors of hematologic malignancies were assessed regarding their family functioning, mental health, self-esteem, global competence, and problem behaviors. Contrary to expectations about the influence of cancer on these families, adolescent cancer survivors reported lower levels of family cohesion than the normative sample of healthy adolescents and their families. While current age, gender, age at diagnosis, and time since treatment completion were generally not associated with adolescents' adjustment, perceived family cohesion and adaptability were strongly related to post-treatment psychological adjustment.     

Changes in adolescent response patterns on the MMPI/MMPI--a across four decades

The purpose of this study was to explore changes in adolescent self-presentation on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1940) and MMPI-A (Butcher et al., 1992) over a 40-year period. The primary samples used for comparison in this study include 1,235 adolescents, age 14 through 16, derived from the MMPI-A normative sample (Butcher et al., 1992) collected in 1989 and 10,514 adolescents, age 14 through 16, collected in 1948 and 1954 from Hathaway and Monachesi's (1963) study of adolescent personality and behavior. MMPI basic scale and item-level data were also included for 817 adolescents, age 14 through 16, collected by Colligan and Offord (1992) in 1985 as a further comparison. Between-sample analyses at the profile level revealed that adolescents from the MMPI-A normative sample scored significantly higher across basic clinical scales and lower on validity scales L and K than adolescents from the Hathaway and Monachesi (1963) sample, with mean data from the Colligan and Offord (1992) sample typically falling at a midpoint value. Analyses of Harris-Lingoes (Harris & Lingoes, 1955) subscale and item-level data were conducted to provide refined definitions of the contents of scale-level changes. Results were interpreted as reflecting moderate to large changes in response frequencies between eras of data collection, and emphasis was placed on the relatively high frequency of item endorsements by contemporary adolescents in the clinical direction in the MMPI-A normative sample. A series of cautions and limitations are also offered in interpreting these patterns.     

Predictors of Teens' Attitudes Toward Condoms: Gender Differences in the Effects of Norms

Using data collected from a telephone survey of adolescents aged 15 to 19, we studied predictors of condom attitudes. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 348 sexually active teens. Multiple regression revealed that holding other variables constant being females, African American, perceiving that more of their friends were using condoms (i. e., perceived normative behavior). and stronger perceived normative pressure were significantly associated with favorable condom attitudes. Furthermore, significant interaction effects pointed to gender differences in the association between two types of norms and attitudes toward condoms. Perceived normative behavior had a greater effect on the attitudes of female adolescents. Perceived normative pressure had a greater effect on the attitudes of male adolescents.     

The Boston Naming Test: Norm data and cue utilization in a sample of normal 6- and 7-year-old children

The object-naming abilities of 83 normal children were examined using the Boston Naming Test developed by E. Kaplan, H. Goodglass, and S. Weintraub (1976, The Boston Naming Test (experimental edition), unpublished test, Veterans Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts). There is currently a lack of available norms for this instrument, especially for populations of younger children. Cue utilization in this sample is explored and attention is focused upon possible gender differences in naming performance and cue strategies. Seven summary scores derived from the test are presented in this report. Results indicate that the Boston Naming Test can discriminate within a normal population sample of young children and provides a relatively normal distribution for six of seven derived scores. Boys were found to have a significantly greater number of items correctly named but no gender differences in cue utilization were evident. A major proportion of the children in this sample of 6- and 7-year-olds used phonological cues almost exclusively, rather than semantic cues also provided. Cue use was not related to age or spontaneously given responses, and none of the children were found to be highly proficient at using both types of cues.     

Diffuse-Avoidance,Normative, and Informational Identity Styles: Using Identity Theory to Predict Maladjustment

Expanding on the identity status paradigm, this investigation uses 3 forms of identity styles (diffuse-avoidance, normative, and informational) to assess the association among identity and maladjustment. A sample of 2,001 junior and senior high school students in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada completed a self-report that included, among other questions, items assessing the 3 identity styles and degree of adjustment or maladjustment in conduct, hyperactivity, and emotional states. Avariety of analyses indicate that adolescents who are escaping identity formation through a diffuse-avoidance identity style are more likely to manifest conduct and hyperactivity disorders. In contrast, adolescents who establish commitments from prior generations through a normative-identity style, or who engage in an active informational-identity style, are less likely to manifest conduct and hyperactivity problem behavior. Few gender or age differences were observed, suggesting that the technique applied here can be useful with both genders and all ages of adolescents. This study is an initial investigation of contemporary adolescents attempts to escape the self.     

The classification accuracy of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent: effects of modifying the normative sample

Numerous studies have reported that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) produces a high frequency of within-normal-limits basic scale profiles for adolescents with significant clinical pathology (e.g., Archer, 2005). The current study builds on the observation that the MMPI-A normative sample included participants who reported a recent history of referral for counseling or therapy services. The 193 adolescents who reported referral for counseling were removed from the normative sample and uniform T-score values were recalculated for basic clinical scale raw scores. The frequency of within-normal-limits profiles was only marginally reduced by using the revised MMPI-A norms. Furthermore, the overall hit rate, positive predictive power, and sensitivity were only slightly improved by removing normative participants referred for counseling and basing norms on the remaining 1,427 adolescents.     

Multivariate base rates for the assessment of executive functioning among children and adolescents

This study provides observed base rates of low executive functioning test scores among healthy children and adolescents, stratifies those base rates by narrow intellectual functioning and age groupings, and provides normative classification ranges to aid the interpretation of performances on the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) in clinical practice and research. Participants included 875 children and adolescents between 8 and 19 years old from the D-KEFS normative sample (48% male; 52% female). Among these participants, 838 had complete data and were included in the current study. The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was: White (73.7%), African American (12.4%), Hispanic (11.1%), and other racial/ethnic backgrounds (2.7%). The Overall Test Battery Mean (OTBM) and the prevalence of low scores at various clinical cut-offs were calculated for the 13 primary scores from the D-KEFS Trail Making Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Color-Word Interference Test. The OTBM and base rates were also calculated separately for those scores reflecting executive functioning (n = 7) and processing speed (n = 6). Healthy children and adolescents commonly obtained low scores on the D-KEFS tests considered here. Younger age, lower estimated full-scale intelligence quotient, and more test scores interpreted were associated with a greater frequency of low scores. Clinicians and researchers are encouraged to consider these multivariate base rates when assessing and attempting to identify executive functioning impairment among children and adolescents with the D-KEFS.     

Physical Dating Aggression Growth During Adolescence

The development of Physical Dating Aggression from the age of 16 to 18 years was investigated in relation to time-invariant predictors (gender, parental education, family composition, number of partners) and to time-varying effects of delinquent behavior and perception of victimization by the partner. The sample consisted of 181 adolescents with a current or past dating relationship. Results showed an average trend of decrease from 16 to 18 years with significant inter-individual variability in intra-individual change across time, suggesting that different trajectories of Physical Dating Aggression among the population can be found. Inter-individual variability can be explained by background variables representing a distal risk on Dating Aggression at 16 years (mother’s education, precocious dating experience), and by time-varying effect of delinquent behavior and perception of partner perpetration. These latter variables can act as snares (Moffitt 1993), representing mechanisms responsible for prolonging the otherwise normative pattern of decrease of Physical Dating Aggression.     

Gender and age differences in spiritual development among early adolescents

ABSTRACT

The current study examined age and gender effects on spiritual development among early adolescents. A total sample of 416 Czech adolescents, age ranged from 11 to 15 years, was analysed for the study. Data was collected employing a non-experimental survey design by utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. A series of independent t-tests were performed to determine whether there were significant age and gender differences across the spirituality indicators: spiritual well-being, spiritual belief, and experiential spirituality. Results indicated that 11-year-old adolescents were more likely to demonstrate a higher level of spiritual well-being and spiritual belief compared with those 15-year-old; while 15-year-old adolescents were more likely to score high in experiential spirituality than their younger counterparts. Regarding gender, girls were more likely than boys to demonstrate a higher level of spirituality score. Practitioners in education and psychology should be mindful of the use of spirituality interventions applying the respective forms and practices according to age and gender to better promote positive youth development.     

Seeds of wisdom: adolescents' knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems

The present study examined adolescents' wisdom-related knowledge and judgment with a heterogeneous sample of 146 adolescents (ages 14-20 years) and a comparison sample of 58 young adults (ages 21-37 years). Participants responded to difficult and ill-defined life dilemmas; expert raters evaluated these responses along 5 wisdom criteria. Our findings confirmed that in contrast to adulthood, adolescence is a major period for normative age-graded development in knowledge about difficult life problems. Adolescents performed at lower levels than young adults but also demonstrated substantial age increments in performance. As expected, adolescents' performance varied as a function of criterion and gender. These results hold implications for research on adolescent development and for the development of wisdom-related knowledge and judgment.     

青少年自我价值感量表研究结果的元分析

采用元分析法对1998年到2011年间使用青少年自我价值感量表为工具的研究结果进行整合分析。结果发现,近十年来青少年自我价值感水平在各维度或层次上高于全国常模,且没有显著的性别差异;与年级常模相比,多数因子高于常模,中学生部分特殊自我价值感因子与常模差异不显著;青少年自我价值感的年代效应显著;研究目的、报告质量、地区、出版年代等因素仅对某些特殊自我价值感有影响,而对总体自我价值感没有系统的影响。     

Semantic Degradation and Lexical Access in Age-Related Naming Failures

This study investigated the impaired lexical access and semantic degradation hypotheses as two potential explanations of naming failures in normal aging. Naming responses on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and Action Naming Test (ANT) were analyzed across three test sessions for 39 adults from three age groups (50s, 60s, and 70s). Failures to name before and after cues were classified as either impaired access if failures occurred at an earlier test session followed by successful naming at a later test session or semantic degradation if naming was successful at an earlier test session followed by failures at a later test session. The results indicated that on both the BNT and ANT all age groups produced more naming failures attributed to impaired access than to semantic degradation. However, for object naming, the failures showed significantly more semantic degradation for people in their 70s compared to the younger age groups. By contrast, for action naming, semantic degradation was negligible, possibly masked by a ceiling effect, and the only age-difference result that approached significance indicated that adults in their 70s produced more naming failures attributed to impaired access than adults in their 50s.