Personality assessment of the prelingual, profoundly deaf child or adolescent

Personality assessment of children and adolescents experiencing an early, profound hearing loss is hampered by the lack of instruments standardized and/or developed primarily for use with deaf clients. Further compounding the problem are the relatively few psychologists trained in and/or experienced with deaf personality assessment. This article reviews the rudimentary requirements for personality assessment with the deaf and critiques the available personality tests that are either used or useable in assessing the deaf.     

Depression and self-enhancement among Japanese and American students

This study examined the cultural generalizibility of the negative relationship between depression and self-enhancement. Japanese (n = 116) and American (n = 125) students completed the Zung (1965) Self-Rating Depression Scale and three measures of self-enhancement (i.e., the tendency to see oneself in a positive light). As expected, Japanese subjects were found to be more depressed and less self-serving than Americans. Negative correlations between depression and self-enhancement measures were obtained for both samples. Regression analyses of the relationships between measures indicated that sample differences in self-enhancement were explained largely by sample differences in depression. It is proposed that, relative to the Americans, Japanese students had a negative self-schema that led to higher depression and lower self-enhancement.     

Assessment of attention deficit disorder using a thematic apperception technique

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (AD-HD) is regarded as being relatively common among school-age children, but the literature reveals a number of confounding factors with standard assessment techniques of the disorder. Using a structured thematic apperception technique (the Tell-Me-A-Story [TEMAS] test) to measure attention to pictorial stimuli depicting characters, events, settings, and covert psychological conflicts, a study was conducted with 152 normal and 95 clinical Hispanic, Black, and White school-age children. Results reveal that the AD-HD children are significantly more likely than normal children to omit information in the stimuli about characters, events, settings, and psychological conflicts. Differences between the groups are large and persistent in the presence of structured inquiries by the test examiners. Results suggest the potential utility of structured thematic apperception techniques for the assessment of AD-HD, eventually to facilitate DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) diagnosis, but also to invite closer scrutiny in carefully controlled validity studies.     

A Rorschach investigation of mothers of behaviorally disturbed infants

This investigation focuses on one facet of the interactional family, parent-child, mother-infant matrix of behaviorally disturbed infants: the personality of mother as primary caregiver. Rorschach test behavior of mothers (N = 30) of behaviorally disturbed infants were compared with two normative samples. The Rorschach test was found to indicate certain atypical psychological patterns among these mothers. Differences emerged in intellectual sphere variables: number of responses (R), common detail responses (D), rare detail responses (Dd), number of accurate form percepts (F+), percentage of form percepts that are accurate (F+%), percentage of responses with animal content (A%), and popular percepts (P). Other response trends emerged in the affective sphere: percentage of pure form responses (F%) and in the interpersonal sphere: whole human content (H) and the ratio of the whole human content to human detail content (H:Hd), as well as to the test as a whole. Based on these results, hypotheses are generated for further investigation, particularly of traits in the areas of cognitive processing and the capacity for interpersonal relations.     

Dimensions of self-concept of pregnant unwed teens

The study examined the self-esteem of pregnant teens enrolled in a program designed to maximize their chances of completing school. The Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory (Battle, 1981) and the Coopersmith (1981) Self-Esteem Inventory were completed by the teens. The mean score of the group on the Culture Free Total Self Scale was below average in comparison to the norm.     

Equivalence of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised, forms L and M for children with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to assess the equivalence of Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised for a sample of 15 Hispanic and 12 black children diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The children (15 boys, 12 girls) were administered PPVT-R Forms L and M in counterbalanced order and in immediate succession. The coefficient of equivalence, r, was .77 and significant. Influential factors, such as the behavioral manifestations of AIDS, are discussed. Limitations of the study are included. Research should focus on the long- and short-term stability of the test for these children as they are evaluated repetitively.     

Visuospatial ability, accuracy of size estimation, and bulimic disturbance in a noneating-disordered college sample: a neuropsychological analysis

The relationship between visuospatial ability and size accuracy in perception was assessed in 69 normal college females. In general, correlations indicated small associations between visuospatial defects and size overestimation and little relationship between visuospatial ability and level of bulimic disturbance. Implications for research on the size overestimation of body image are addressed.     

The effect of training on visual alignment discrimination and grating resolution.

The effect of training on an observer's ability to detect the misalignment of three points, a hyperacuity, and to resolve a six-line grating was studied in a transfer-of-training design with observers (4 in each of two experiments) who were experienced in making psychophysical judgments of other visual stimuli. The transfer-of-training design enabled us to look for any training-based improvement. Long periods of training produced no statistically significant improvement in performance under any condition. There were small practice-based improvements, but the primary patterns indicated threshold fluctuation rather than improvement. We interpret the results to indicate that the neural mechanisms underlying three-point alignment and grating discrimination, like those for gap bisection (Klein & Levi, 1985), are not malleable to any significant extent.     

Coping with a major stressor: differences between habitual short- and longer-sleepers.

We compared the coping strategies of 39 short-sleepers and 33 longer-sleepers to the stresses associated with the October 17, 1989 San Francisco Bay Area earthquake using their responses to the eight scales of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Over-all, the short-sleepers scored significantly higher on this questionnaire and in general, the pattern of their responses was consistent with inferences that could be drawn from a 1972 paper by Hartmann, Baekeland, and Zwilling.     

Reliability generalization: a viable key for establishing validity generalization

Even with radical restriction of range, reliability coefficients from 10 studies gave an average interstudy value of .74, suggesting constancy of reliability over diverse experiments. A value from a new test can help index reliability of tests not previously studied.