Philip Greenway

Relationship between Psychopathology, Learning Disabilities, or Both and WISC-III Subtest Scatter in Adolescents.

The aim of this study was to determine whether subtest scatter might be an indicator of learning disabilities (LDs), psychopathology, or of both, in a sample of normal adolescents. Subjects completed the WISC-III and the MMPI-A and then their scores for the WISC-III subtests, verbal scatter (VScatter), performance scatter (PScatter), full scale scatter (FScatter) scores, perceptual organisation factor (PO), and the SCAD profiles were calculated. The MMPI-A was scored and the clinical scales were extracted. The hypothesis that subtest scatter is associated with LDs was generally not supported. There was a relationship between subtest scatter and psychological disturbance in adolescent males, however the results for females were less clear. Further, high PScatter in adolescent males was associated with an MMPI-A codetype 4-2/2-4, indicating tendencies toward depressive features, delinquent behavior, and possibly substance abuse, tendencies which are likely to lead to school failure.

Do high scores on the Adolescent-School Problems and Immaturity Scales of the MMPI-A have implications for cognitive performance as measured by the WISC-III?

High scores on the Adolescent-School Problems (A-Sch) content scale and the Immaturity (IMM) supplementary scale of the MMPI-A have been associated with poor school performance and possible learning disabilities (Archer, 1997). The aim of the present study was to determine whether these scales were associated with cognitive performance as measured by the WISC-III. Subjects completed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III) and the MMPI-A. Their scores for the WISC-III sub-tests and SCAD were calculated. The A-Sch content and the IMM supplementary scales were extracted from the MMPI-A. The results indicated that A-Sch was associated with lower WISC-III scores in males and predicted poorer performance in Full Scale IQ (FIQ), Verbal IQ (VIQ), Information, and Arithmetic. For females however, there was little evidence to suggest a relationship between A-Sch and cognitive performance. The association between IMM and the WISC-III sub-tests was found to be a result of its correlation with A-Sch. The implications of these findings, in particular, those involving gender differences, were discussed.

Congruence between mother and handicapped child's view of the child's sense of adjustment

Abstract The responses of 22 physically handicapped children to selected items of the Piers‐Harris Self Concept Scale for Children were compared with their mothers’ responses to equivalent items of the Personality Inventory for Children. The direction of the responses, whether children were more or less positive in self‐evaluation than mothers perceived them to. be, was analyzed with respect to sex of child, type of school attended, and diagnosis of handicap (cerebral palsy or spina bifida). Only diagnosis of handicap was significantly related to the tendency for children to be either less or more positive in response to the items than their mothers, with cerebral palsy children more positive and spina bifida children consistently less positive in direction. Possible explanations are considered, with particular reference to the childrens views regarding peer relationships.

Rorschach Comprehensive System Data for a Sample of 128 Adult Nonpatients From Australia

This article examines data collected for the study by Greenway and Milne (2001), which investigated the association between the Capacity for Control and Stress Tolerance cluster of the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 1995) and the ability of individuals to take control of their internal states—emotional, cognitive and those related to their actions and reactions. The data consisted of the Rorschach protocols of 128 participants in an urban, community sample, collected by graduate students in the second year of a masters degree in counseling psychology. All of these students had been trained thoroughly in administering the Rorschach and had experience in practicing psychological assessment and counseling for between 8 and 11 months in professional settings. The exclusion criteria are described and the interrater reliability statistics for several CS variables as well as descriptive statistics are presented.

The methodological implications of phenomenological assumptions in humanistic psychology

This paper outlines three philosophic beliefs which humanistic writers in psychology tend to adopt. These amount to a subjective paradigm for conducting research which emphasizes the individuals personal experience. It is argued that this approach to research is more likely to resemble an art than a science.