Performance of Delinquent and Nondelinquent High Schools Boys on the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank

Abstract

This study compared 30 delinquent adolescent boys who had been placed in a residential treatment center with 30 randomly selected high school boys on the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (Rotter). For each group a maladjustment score was computed. The results indicated a significant difference between the two groups' mean maladjustment scores on the Rotter. A cutoff Score was established that made it possible to correctly identify 73% of the normals and 60% of the residential treatment group. An item analysis was carried out between the two groups to see whether certain sentence stems discriminated between the two groups. Fourteen sentence u stems were found to discriminate significantly between the groups. From these sentence stems a short form of the Rotter was established with a revised maladjustment score that correctly identified 82% of the boys in each group. A cross-validation of the short form with 48 high school boys and 67 delinquents supported its use as 75% of the high school boys and 80% of the delinquents were correctly identified.