Consistency of Felons' Written and Oral Responses for Scoring the Environmental Deprivation Scale

Abstract

32 male parolees and probationers were administered the questionnaire form of the Environmental Deprivation Scale followed by the standard oral interview for the purpose of comparing written responses with oral responses usually necessary to score the scale. Pearson correlations were .89 between written and oral responses and .97 for rater-rater agreement for scoring the questionnaire form. These results suggest that a reliable score for the scale can be obtained from an antisocial population without the extensive training and time required to administer behavioral interviews. Therefore, substituting group testing in place of one-on-one interviews may broaden the utility of the scale.