Validity of a Configural Interpretation of the Intellectual Screening and Achievement Scales of the Personality Inventory for Children

Abstract

One hundred children (61 males, 39 females), ages six to fifteen (M = nine years, seven months), were given a WISC-R and Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), as part of a standard assessment battery (when they were evaluated at a university psychological teaching clinic for a variety of educational and/or emotional problems) for screening relative to programs for bright and gifted children, or as non-clinical clients. A parent of each child completed the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC). PIC Achievement and Intellectual Screening scales were related to IQ scores on the WISC-R and to standard scores on the WRAT by using correlational and multiple regression analyses. The Achievement scale was found to be a more powerful predictor of every WISC-R IQ score and of every WRAT standard score than was the Intellectual Screening score. Implications for interpretation are discussed.