WISC-R test-retest data with a six-month interval were obtained for 45 normal 10-year-old children ranging in age from 7.8 to 15.0 years. Verbal IQ estimates were stable (one IQ point increase), but significant practice effects were obtained on Performance and Full Scale IQ estimates (8 and 5 IQ point increases, respectively). Stability coefficients of .95, .89 and .95 for the Verbal, Performance and Full Scales, respectively, were as high as or higher than those reported on the WISC and by Wechsler on the standardization sample of 10-year-olds. Verbal subtests generally obtained a higher degree of test-retest reliability than Performance subtests, ranging from .59 to .88 and .54 to .78, respectively. Discussion focused on practical application of readministering the WISC-R. Regression formulas were computed to convert IQs to pretest equivalents.
The impact of child abuse on the developmental functioning of infants was investigated. Thirty verified cases of physically abused children were compared to a reference group of 30 nonabused children matched for age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status. Abused children scored significantly lower in terms of cognitive and motor development as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Development delays on three of the four sectors of the Denver Developmental Screening Test, personal-social, language, and gross motor, were also found in the abused children. There were, however, relatively few item differences between the two groups on the 30 more general behavioral variables constituting the Bayley Infant Behavior Record. Results appear to confirm clinical observation of abused children as developmentally retarded with specific delays in the language and gross motor areas. Although methodologically complex, longitudinal studies are clearly indicated to assess the stability and/or reversibility of the present findings.
Subjects in positive and negative experimental history conditions participated in three treatment experiments designed to suggest to them either that psychological research was interesting and important or dull and a waste of time. The subjects then participated in a criterion experiment. Control subjects were given no prior experience. Questionnaires measuring perceptions of experiments indicated the manipulation was successful. While there were no differences between the groups on the amount of effort they reported they devoted to experimental tasks, performance data revealed differences in conscientiousness as measured by time spent on difficult questionnaire items and differences in problem solving, cooperative behavior intentions, and actual performance in verbal conditioning, as well as the number of additional hours of research for which subjects volunteered. In every case, subjects with positive histories were superior.
The Revised Denver Developmental Screening Test was compared with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development to investigate the validity of the Denver scale for children under 30 mo. of age. Two groups of infants were studied, referred and nonreferred samples. Correlations of .25 to .52 were obtained between the two measures on the basis of developmental quotients which are significantly lower than those previously reported as mental age estimates. Generally the Denver scale appears to be a conservative test in terms of its classifications, and there is a marked underselection by the Denver test of children who receive abnormal scores on the Bayley scales. There is, however, congruence between the Denver Developmental Quotient and the Bayley Mental Scale score for children of lower ability. While two Denver mental age estimates (personal-social and gross motor) appear congruent with the Bayley? Mental Scale age equivalent, for the most part the Denver test yields significant underestimates of mental age. Over-all the data offer only limited validational support for the use of the Denver test with infants under 2 1/2 yr. of age.
Some divorced single‐parent mothers return home to live with their families of origin. The absence of clear delineation of the roles of grandmother, mother, and child can produce a dysfunctional family unit, identified here as tri‐generational enmeshment. Clinical features of this subgroup are discussed, and examples of treatment approaches are presented.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.