Date of Award

Summer 1987

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

Program/Concentration

Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology

Committee Director

J. D. Ball

Committee Member

Frederick Freeman

Committee Member

Eric Zillmer

Committee Member

Chris Ryan

Abstract

The current study investigated sex and age differences on the WAIS and Category Test in a sample of 218 persons, half male and half female, between the ages of 16 and 39. The sample was composed of well educated diabetics without neurological symptomatology and of above average intelligence.

Three types of statistical analyses were performed. The first of these were factor analyses of structural composition of WAIS and Category tests as influenced by sex. Results suggested that males and females exhibit different patterns of performance. The second analyses were regression analyses to predict Category Test performance from WAIS scores and age, as influenced by sex. Findings were that for males, verbal subtests and age more strongly predicted Category Test performance, while for females the Block Design subtest was the strongest predictor. The third analyses examined classification accuracy of good and bad performance on the Category Test for males and females utilizing discriminant function analyses. Good performance could not be predicted for either males or females, and poor performance was best predicted for females by Block Design.

The major findings of this study were: (1) differences in Category Test performance and underlying cognitive strategies for males and females, and (2) unique variance contributions from the Category Test in factor analyses. Males appear to rely on well learned cognitive skills most in their Category Test performance, while for females this task is more closely related to novel spatial problem solving. There is support here for the inclusion of the Category Test in a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery as a measure of abilities not tapped by traditional intellectual instruments. Future research should attend to sex and age differences in establishing normative data. The major findings of this study were: (1) differences in Category Test performance and underlying cognitive strategies for males and females, and (2) unique variance contributions from the Category Test in factor analyses. Males appear to rely on well learned cognitive skills most in their Category Test performance, while for females this task is more closely related to novel spatial problem solving. There is support here for the inclusion of the Category Test in a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery as a measure of abilities not tapped by traditional intellectual instruments. Future research should attend to sex and age difference in establishing normative data.

Comments

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculties of The College of William and Mary, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology through the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology.

Rights

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DOI

10.25777/tdzq-7a79

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