James A. Armentrout

MMPIs of rapists of adults, rapists of children, and non-rapist sex offenders

Compared MMPI group mean profiles of rapists of adults, rapists of children, and non-rapist sex offenders. All three groups showed similar elevations on scale 4, but they differed in the extent to which scale 8 characteristics combined with those of scale 4. Rapists of adults showed an elevated 8-4 profile, rapists of children showed a 4-8 profile but with scale 8 somewhat lower, and non-rapists showed a high-4 profile with scale 8 elevated still less. Though there was marked heterogeneity in the two-point codes within groups, still the group results supported the notion that while all three types of sex offenders are impulsive and self-centered with poor social intelligence, the rapists of adults are more hostile, resentful, and interpersonally alienated than are rapists of children, and both types of rapists show those hostile and resentful characteristics more than do non-rapist sex offenders.

Estimating Factor Scores for Children's Reports of Parental Child-Rearing Behaviors

Summary Two studies compared methods of estimating factor scores for the Childs Report of Parental Behavior Inventory. In Study I, least squares factor scores for 5th and 6th graders were computed and correlated with estimates obtained by multiple regression, weighted summation, and unweighted summation with either (a) all scales best defining each factor, (b) the three best, or (c) the two best defining scales. All three estimation methods were highly accurate, and estimates obtained with three and even two scales per factor still correlated highly with the factor scores. In Study 11, factor scores for college students were correlated with estimates obtained by multiple regression and unweighted summation of the same subsets of scales. Again both estimation methods were highly accurate, and reducing the number of scales did not markedly reduce the correspondence of estimated scores to exact scores.

Sociometric Classroom Popularity and Children's Reports of Parental Child-Rearing Behaviors

48 boys and 48 girls in Grades 4, 5, and 6 were selected from a larger group of children on the basis of being high or low in sociometric popularity with their classmates. Their reports of perceived parental child-rearing behaviors were compared. Ss high in popularity reported significantly greater acceptance by parents than did Ss low in popularity, while all Ss reported greater acceptance by mothers than fathers. Two measures of parental control, corresponding to covert intrusiveness and overt rule-making, did not differentiate Ss of high and low peer popularity.

Failure of the Bender-Gestalt and Wechsler Tests to Differentiate Children with and without Seizure Disorders.

The Bender-Gestalt and WISC or WISC-R performances of two groups of 19 emotionally disturbed children matched in age (9–1 to 16–7) and Full Scale IQ were compared. Each child in one group had a medically documented seizure disorder; a matched child in the other group had no present or past indications of organicity. Neither Bender-Gestalt errors nor Wechsler IQs or Deviation Quotients differed significantly between the two groups. The emotionally disturbed children with seizure disorders could not be differentiated from the other emotionally disturbed children solely on the basis of Bender-Gestalt and Wechsler test scores.