The Symbolic Process of Recidivist and Non-Recidivist Children as Assessed by the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement

A detailed evaluation of deprived children on symbolic performance and specific levels of adjustment using the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA) was undertaken. Thirty long-term (Recidivist) and 30 short-term (Non-Recidivist) hospitalized children between 13 and 16 years of age were randomly chosen from a hospital population and compared using the weighted sum of scores of the KTSA. Generally, the findings indicate that children of the Non-Recidivist group possessed significantly greater total weighted symbolization scores than those of the Recidivist group. Of the nine subhypotheses pertaining to specific levels of adjustment, using the symbolization subcategories of the KTSA, Recidivists differed significantly from Non-Recidivists in seven. These results suggest that length of immobilization of children in a hospital setting has a distinct negative effect on symbolization performance, particular perceptual and conceptual processes, and response style.