Preface.Chapter 1: Introduction.Organization of the Handbook.Role of the Clinician.Patterns of Test Usage in Clinical Assessment.Evaluating Psychological Tests.Validity in Clinical Practice.Clinical Judgment.Phases in Clinical Assessment.Recommended Reading.Chapter 2: Context of Clinical Assessment.Types of Referral Settings.Ethical Practice of Assessment.Test Bias and Use with Minority Groups.Selecting Psychological Tests.Computer-Assisted Assessment.Recommended Reading.Chapter 3: The Assessment Interview.History and Development.Issues Related to Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.The Assessment Interview and Case History.Mental Status Examination.Interpreting Interview Data.Structured Interviews.Recommended Reading.Chapter 4: Behavioral Assessment.History and Development.Issues Related to Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Strategies of Behavioral Assessment.Recommended Reading.Chapter 5: Wechsler Intelligence Scales.Testing of Intelligence: Pro and Con.History and Development.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Meaning of IQ Scores.Cautions and Guidelines in Administration.WAIS-III /WISC-III Successive Level Interpretation Procedure.Wechsler Subtests.Assessing Brain Damage.Assessing Additional Special Populations.Short Forms.Recommended Reading.Chapter 6: Wechsler Memory Scales.History and Development.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Interpretation Procedure.Recommended Reading.Chapter 7: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.History and Development.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Administration.Interpretation Procedure.Computerized Interpretation.Validity Scales.Clinical Scales.Two-Point Codes.MMPI-2 Content Scales.MMPI-A Content Scales.Harris-Lingoes and Si Subscales.Critical Items.MMPI-2 and MMPI-A Supplementary Scales.Recommended Reading.Chapter 8: Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory.History and Development.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Interpretation Procedure.Modifying Indices (Validity Scales).Clinical Personality Patterns.Severe Personality Pathology.Clinical Syndromes.Severe Syndromes.Recommended Reading.Chapter 9: California Psychological Inventory.History and Development.Comparison with the MMPI.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Interpretation Procedures.Vector Scale Interpretation.Individual Scales.Special Purpose Scales.Configural Interpretation.Recommended Reading.Chapter 10: Rorschach.History and Development.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Approaching Consensus on Rorschach Validity.Administration.Scoring.Structural Summary.Interpretation.Recommended Reading.Chapter 11: Thematic Apperception Test.History and Development.Theoretical Perspectives.Reliability and Validity.Assets and Limitations.Administration.Typical Themes Elicited.Scoring Procedures.Interpretation.Recommended Reading.Chapter 12: Screening and Assessing for Neuropsychological Impairment.History and Development.Interviewing for Brain Impairment.Tests for Screening and Assessing for Neuropsychological Impairment.Tests of Visuoconstructive Abilities.Mental Activities (Attention and Speed of Information Processing).Memory and Learning.Verbal Functions and Academic Skills.Tests of Motor Ability.Executive Functions.Emotional Status and Level of Adjustment.Recommended Reading.Chapter 13: Brief Instruments for Treatment Planning, Monitoring, and Outcome Assessment.Selecting Brief Instruments.Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI).The Beck Depression Inventory.State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).Recommended Reading.Chapter 14: Psychological Assessment and Treatment Planning.Development and Approaches to Treatment Planning.A Systematic Approach to Treatment Selection.Functional Impairment.Social Support.Problem Complexity/Chronicity.Coping Style.Resistance.Subjective Distress.Problem-Solving Phase.Recommended Reading.Chapter 15: Psychological Report.General Guidelines.Format for a Psychological Report.Sample Reports.Recommended Reading.Appendix A: Test Publishers/Distributors.Appendix B: Percentile Rankings for Wechsler Deviation IQS.Appendix C: Conversion Formulas and Difference Scores for Determining Magnitude (.05 Level) of Fluctuations for Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd ed. WAIS-III) Additional Groupings.Appendix D: Conversion Formulas and Difference Scores for Determining Magnitude (.05 Level) of Fluctuations for Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed. WISC-III) Factor Scores and Additional Groupings.Appendix E: Directions for Completing Appendix E: Worksheet for Determining Magnitude of WISC-III Subtest Fluctuations.Appendix F: Guidelines for Hypothesizing Subtest Strengths and Weaknesses.Appendix G: Directions for Hand Scoring the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Validity and Clinical Scales.Appendix H: Feedback Statements for the MMPI-2 Clinical Scales.Appendix I: Descriptive Statistics for Nonpatient Adults (N = 600).Appendix J: Maturational Guidelines for Bender Gestalt Designs.Appendix K: Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test Scoring Sheet.Appendix L: Norms for the Standard Administration of the RAVLT.WISC-IV Supplement.References.Author Index.Subject Index.

Handbook of psychological assessment

This study shows that every Stanford-Binet and Wechsler standardization sample from 1932 to 1978 established norms of a higher standard than its predecessor. The obvious interpretation of this pattern is that representative samples of Americans did better and better on IQ tests over a period of 46 years, the total gain amounting to a rise in mean IQ of 13.8 points. The implications of this finding are developed: The combination of IQ gains and the decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores seems almost inexplicable; obsolete norms have acted as an unrecognized confounding variable in hundreds of studies; and IQ gains of this magnitude pose a serious problem of causal explanation.

http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/flynn1984b.pdf

The mean IQ of Americans: Massive gains 1932 to 1978.

Objective. This study investigates associations between food insufficiency and cognitive, academic, and psychosocial outcomes for US children and teenagers ages 6 to 11 and 12 to 16 years. Methods. Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were analyzed. Children were classified as food-insufficient if the family respondent reported that his or her family sometimes or often did not get enough food to eat. Regression analyses were conducted to test for associations between food insufficiency and cognitive, academic, and psychosocial measures in general and then within lower-risk and higher-risk groups. Regression coefficients and odds ratios for food insufficiency are reported, adjusted for poverty status and other potential confounding factors. Results. After adjusting for confounding variables, 6- to 11-year-old food-insufficient children had significantly lower arithmetic scores and were more likely to have repeated a grade, have seen a psychologist, and have had difficulty getting along with other children. Food-insufficient teenagers were more likely to have seen a psychologist, have been suspended from school, and have had difficulty getting along with other children. Further analyses divided children into lower-risk and higher-risk groups. The associations between food insufficiency and children9s outcomes varied by level of risk. Conclusions. The results demonstrate that negative academic and psychosocial outcomes are associated with family-level food insufficiency and provide support for public health efforts to increase the food security of American families.

Food insufficiency and American school-aged children's cognitive, academic, and psychosocial development.

This paper examines the extent of the high school dropout problem in 1979 and investigates both the stated reasons students leave school and some of the underlying factors influencing their decision. Particular attention is focused on differences by sex, race, and family background. Data for this research come from a new, national sample of youth who were 14 to 21 years of age in 1979. A multivariate model is developed to estimate the effects of family background and other factors on the decision to drop out of school. Several results emerge from the study: The reasons students cite for leaving school vary widely, with women more likely to leave because of pregnancy or marriage and men more likely to leave to go to work; family background strongly influences the propensity to drop out of school and accounts for virtually all the racial differences in dropout rates; various other factors, including ability and aspirations, also influence this decision.

Dropping Out of High School: The Influence of Race, Sex, and Family Background

To better understand the underlying causes behind students’ decisions for dropping out, we reviewed the past 25 years of research on dropouts. The review was based on 203 published studies that analyzed a variety of national, state, and local data to identify statistically significant predictors of high school dropout and graduation. Although in any particular study it is difficult to demonstrate a causal relationship between any single factor and the decision to quit school, a large number of studies with similar findings does suggest a strong connection.

https://www.hws.edu/about/pdfs/school_dropouts.pdf

Why Students Drop Out of School: A Review of 25 Years of Research

Measures of height, weight, nonverbal cognitive ability (Ravens progressive matrix), visual-motor-perceptual ability (Beery-Buktenica test of Visual Motor Integration [VMI]), the imitation-of-gestures technique, and academic achievement (Stanford Early Achievement) were obtained for a sample of 82 children from a poor inner-city community. In contrast to prior reports from the United States and about other developed countries, anthropometric measures were related both to academic achievement and to these measures of neurodevelopment. They were not consistently related to measures of nonverbal cognitive ability. Regression analyses revealed that general cognitive ability contributed more variance (39%) to predictions of achievement than all other variables, including weight for age (13%) and VMI (6%). Children with reduced somatic growth were likely to do poorly in school, but the data do not show that undernutrition causes learning failure. Rather, they suggest that environmental problems affecting the development of thought processes and nutrient intake precede both growth and learning failure.

Growth and Academic Achievement in Inner-City Kindergarten Children The Relationship of Height, Weight, Cognitive Ability, and Neurodevelopmental Level

The correlates and presumable causes for dropping out: The phenomenon is more complex than might have been expected.

Trevor E. Sewell

Papers

Growth and Academic Achievement in Inner-City Kindergarten Children The Relationship of Height, Weight, Cognitive Ability, and Neurodevelopmental Level

High School Dropout: Psychological, Academic, and Vocational Factors.

Learning Ability and Intelligence as Cognitive Predictors of Achievement in First-Grade Black Children.

Intelligence and learning tasks as predictors of scholastic achievement in black and white first-grade children

Racial differences in patterns of occupational choice in adolescents