Criterion Validity of the Rorschach Developmental Index With Children

ABSTRACT

The Rorschach Developmental Index (DI) is a composite measure of psychological development. The aim of this study was to examine the criterion validity of the DI by investigating its relationship with age, nonverbal intelligence, and the impact of institutionalization in a sample of Brazilian children. The sample included 231 children, ages 7 to 11, who were either living with their families or in an institutionalized setting. The results indicated that the DI is strongly associated with nonverbal intelligence. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 71% of the variability in the DI was associated with nonverbal intelligence, whereas age explained only 2%. Moreover, the DI scores and nonverbal intelligence scores were significantly lower for children living in institutionalized settings. The DI appears to be effective in assessing various levels of psychological development, especially when expressed in cognitive ability. The DI was developed in the United States, and this study suggests that the DI can be adapted to diverse cultures, regions, or languages.

Acknowledgments

Ana Cristina Resende, Liliane Domingos Martins, Lorena Oliveira, and Latife Yazigi presented part of the data at the Society for Personality Assessment Annual Conference in New York, NY, on March 7, 2015.

We thank Lorena Melo Oliveira, Carolina Cardoso de Souza, Ana Clara Mateus Carvalho, and Larissa Escher Chagas for their help in administering the Rorschach and organizing the database, and Elizabeth Chase for her review of the article.

Funding

Ana Cristina Resende received financial support from the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) as a postdoctoral fellowship, and from the State of Goiás Research Foundation (FAPEG) for the research project that gave origin to this article.

Notes

¹ Child samples are more numerous because they are separated by age or developmental level.

² As described in the original DI article (Stanfill et al., 2013b) and correction (Stanfill et al., 2013a), the coefficients for the DI are generated from a regression equation predicting age. To reduce the impact of any single variable within that procedure, the z scores for the subcomponent variables are truncated at an absolute value of three. The current version of the DI calculation has been modified to accommodate differences in CS versus R-PAS coding. The FQ variables in the DI z score transformations based on adult normative data were used to translate from CS FQ to R-PAS FQ (Meyer et al., 2011). For example, a CS X-% score of .192 is at the mean (Meyer et al., 2011, p. 314), a z score of zero, so that it translates to an R-PAS FQ-% score of .096, the mean, in R-PAS administered and scored records (p. 305). A CS X-% score of .298 is 1 SD above the X-% mean, or a z score of one. It translates to an R-PAS FQ-% score of .163. If you would like the SPSS syntax to calculate the R-PAS DI, please contact the first author of this article.