Cross-Cultural Validation of the Rorschach Developmental Index

Abstract

The Developmental Index (DI) has recently been introduced as a composite Rorschach measure of psychological development and maturation, which can be used both with the Comprehensive System (Exner, 2003), and with the recently developed Rorschach Performance Assessment System (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011). As the DI is new, and its validity has not yet been investigated with independent non-U.S. samples, we tested the correlation between DI and age using 3 relatively large samples, 2 of which were from outside the United States (total N = 902). Other Rorschach variables presumably associated with maturation, such as complexity and productivity, were also investigated. As expected, the DI significantly correlated with age, with small variations across the 3 samples. Importantly, the correlation between DI and age remained statistically significant also after controlling for productivity (i.e., the number of responses) and complexity.

Notes

¹ In some analyses, Stanfill et al. (2013) considered age in years; in others, they used Wechsler normative age brackets or ranges (Wechsler, 2003, 2008). Ultimately, however, their main purpose was “to produce an index that would map against age in years” (Stanfill et al., 2013, p. 180).

² Complexity is an aggregate measure of the total amount of differentiation and integration in a Rorschach record. It encompasses three components: (a) information regarding the location, the use of the space, and the quality of response objects; (b) number and complexity of response contents; and (c) number and complexity of response determinants. For additional information, see Meyer et al. (2011) and Viglione (1999).

³ Within the Ohio sample, there are no significant differences between the CS and early R–PAS administration groups with regard to age and gender.

⁴ Additional information about the interrater reliability of the Ohio sample is detailed in Reese et al. (2014). Reese and colleagues, however, did not report data on the interrater reliability of the DI.

⁵ It should be noted that a rater does not directly compute the DI or complexity. These composite variables are calculated based on relatively complex equation formulas, which weight the scores of other Rorschach variables. Thus, each entire protocol was first rescored, and the DI and complexity were then computed a posteriori to calculate interrater reliability.

⁶ These results refer to analyses conducted after collapsing the two Ohio subsamples. Similar conclusions, however, can be taken also when these two subsamples are not combined.

⁷ For all comparisons listed here, alpha was adjusted using Bonferroni correction.