The Factorial Structure of the South African Version of the Wechsler-Bellevue Adult Intelligence Scale in a White South African Psychiatric Population

Abstract

This study investigated the factorial structure of the South African version of the Wechsler-Bellevue Adult Intelligence Scale in a white psychiatric population. The pattern for the W-B reported in various overseas studies (a verbal factor, a perceptual organization factor and a freedom from distractibility/memory/number factor) was clearly in evidence in two different orthogonal rotations (varimax and equamax) but somewhat less clearly so in an oblique (direct quartimin) rotation. It was also concluded that the usual interpretation of the Full Scale IQ as an index of general intelligence is appropriate since the first unrotated principal factor accounted for about 55% of the total variance with loadings above 0,6 for all the subtests. The two verbal subtests with the highest loadings in this g-type factor were Similarities (0,787) and Arithmetical Reasoning (0,762); of the performance subtests, Block Design (0,817) and Picture Completion (0,802) showed the highest loadings.