Wais-R Factor Structures in Two Cultures

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to compare the level of performance and the factor structures of an American and an Argentine sample in the WAIS-R. The Americans had a better educational level than the Argentines and it was hypothezied that if the samples were not homogeneous in education the one with less school training would show a poorer performance than the other but the factor structures of the two samples should not be altered. The WAIS-R was translated into Spanish and adapted to the Argentine population. The modifications were extensive in Vocabulary, moderate in Information, and slight in Comprehension and Arithmetic. The remaining subtests had no changes at all. American norms were used to evaluate the performance of both samples. Americans were significantly superior to Argentines in the subtests of Vocabulary, Arithmetic, Similarities, and Digit Symbol, but the factor structures obtained in the American and Argentine samples were almost identical. That is, no cultural differences in the factor structures of the WAIS-R were noticed.