Comparisons of the P greater than V sign on the WISC-R and WAIS-R in delinquent males

Equivalence of the Wisc-r aNd Wais-r in dElinquent Males

A sample of 55 black and white male delinquents was randomly assigned to take either the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). The two tests did not show significant differences in mean Verbal, Performance, or Full Scale IQs, but a test by race interaction consistently suggested that the scores of blacks were lower on the WISC-R than on the WAIS-R disproportionately to whites. Greater mean Performance IQ minus Verbal IQ differences were seen on the WISC-R than on the WAIS-R, and frequency analysis revealed a greater number of youths with a significant Performance minus Verbal difference on the WISC-R. These results suggest that use of the WAIS-R may be preferable to use of the WISC-R in 16-year-old delinquent males, and the possibility of relative racial bias in the WISC-R should be considered.

Neuropsychological characteristics of three subgroups of Flemish delinquent adolescents

Sixty-three adjudicated adolescents, aged 14-17 years, were followed for 2 years to examine the neuropsychological characteristics of subgroups of delinquents. Nonrecidivistic subjects (n = 29) and late recidivistic subjects (n = 22) differed from early recidivistic subjects (n = 12) on intelligence, self-control functioning, and memory. Late recidivistic subjects, compared with not recidivistic subjects, showed a lower verbal IQ. The differences remained when controlling for the level of substance abuse. This study suggests that neuropsychological assessment may help in differentiating delinquent adolescents, although more research is needed to unravel the mediating influences of substance abuse and early neuropsychological and academic problems.

A Modification of the Payne-Jones Method of Identifying Abnormal Differences in WISC-R Performance and Verbal IQ's

The difference (D) between a person's Verbal IQ (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ) has for some time been considered clinically meaningful ( Kaufman, 1976 , 1979 ; Matarazzo, 1990 , 1991 ; Matarazzo & Herman, 1985 ; Sattler, 1982 ; Wechsler, 1984 ). Particularly useful is information about the degree to which a difference (D) between scores is “abnormal” (i.e., deviant in a standardization group) as opposed to simply “reliable” (i.e., indicative of a true score difference) ( Mittenberg, Thompson, & Schwartz, 1991 ; Silverstein, 1981 ; Payne & Jones, 1957 ). Payne and Jones (1957) proposed a formula to identify “abnormal” differences, which has been used extensively in the literature, and which has generally yielded good approximations to empirically determined “abnormal” differences ( Silverstein, 1985 ; Matarazzo & Herman, 1985 ). However applications of this formula have not taken into account the dependence (demonstrated by Kaufman, 1976 , 1979 , and Matarazzo & Herman, 1985 ) of Ds on Full Scale IQs (FSIQs). This has led to overestimation of “abnormality” of Ds of high FSIQ children, and underestimation of “abnormality” of Ds of low FSIQ children. This article presents a formula for identification of abnormal WISC-R Ds, which overcomes these problems, by explicitly taking into account the dependence of Ds on FSIQs.

Pattern analysis of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children-revised profiles of delinquent boys

To help meet the prescriptive needs of juvenile delinquents more effectively, an analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), utilizing Lutey's model of Factor Analytic measures, was performed on 82 profiles obtained from male subjects (aged 13-16) in a Wisconsin correctional facility. Results support the trends of previous studies of juvenile delinquency; a significant 70% of the subjects (chi 2 6.4, p less than .05) had a higher Performance than Verbal score (M = 13.2). The Performance-Verbal results were also significant (t = 4.824, p less than .001). Object Assembly, Picture Completion, and Picture Arrangement were the three highest subtests and Information, Vocabulary, and Coding/Comprehension the lowest. Clusters that measure perceptual and psychomotor abilities yielded high scores, while most verbal ability clusters, Memory, Verbal Comprehension, Freedom from Distractability, and General Factor scores were the lowest. Results indicate that prescriptive models should consider these findings in planning successful educational programs for this population. The need for further studies that involve extensive assessments which include neurological testing for various age groups and gender populations is stressed.