Abstract
Doctoral-level members of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association, and the National Academy of Neuropsychology, and other neuropsychologists, were invited to participate in a web-based survey in early 2010. The sample of respondents was 56% larger than a prior related income and practice survey in 2005. The substantial proportional change in gender taking place in the field has continued, with 7 of 10 post-doctoral residents being women and, for the first time ever, more than half of the total sample of respondents being women. Whereas the median age of APA members has been over 50 since the early 1990s, the current median age of clinical neuropsychologists remains at 47 and has remained essentially unchanged since 1989, indicating substantial entrance of young psychologists into the field. The Houston Conference training model has influenced the vast majority of residency training sites, and is endorsed as compatible with prior training by two-thirds of all respondents. Testing assistant usage remains commonplace, and is much more common in institutions. The “flexible battery” approach has again increased in popularity and predominates, whereas endorsement of the “fixed/standardized battery” approach has continued to decline. The vast majority of clinical neuropsychologists work full time. Average length of time reported for evaluations increased significantly from 2005, which does not appear to be explained by changes in common referral sources or common diagnostic conditions being evaluated. The most common factors affecting evaluation length were identified, with the top three being goal of evaluation, stamina/health of examinee, and age of examinee. Pediatric specialists are more likely than others to work part time, more likely to be women, more likely to work in institutions, and report lower incomes than respondents whose professional identity is purely adult or a combination of adult and pediatric. Incomes once again vary considerably by years of clinical practice, work setting, amount of forensic practice, state, and region of country. Job satisfaction has little relationship to income and is comparable across most variables (e.g., work setting, professional identity, amount of forensic activity), whereas income satisfaction has a stronger relationship to actual income, and income satisfaction and job satisfaction are moderately correlated. Job satisfaction of neuropsychologists in general is higher than reported for other US jobs. Fewer than 5% of respondents are considering changing job position. As was true in the 2005 survey, a substantial majority of respondents reported increased incomes over the last 5 years. Actual reported income values were meaningfully higher than in 2005 across general work settings and professional identities, and were also higher for entry-level positions. Numerous breakdowns related to income and professional activities are provided.
Introduction
Surveys of clinical neuropsychologists have provided information regarding salient characteristics of practice, teaching, research, and incomes within the field since separate survey projects were undertaken in 1988 by Putnam (Citation1989) and in 1989 by Sweet and Moberg (Citation1990). The present survey reflects 2010 data collected in a format comparable to the 2005 “TCN/AACN Salary Survey” (Sweet, Nelson, & Moberg, 2006), which itself contained questions that had been asked in multiple prior surveys in order to allow analysis of stability and change across time (Sweet & Moberg, Citation1990; Sweet, Moberg, & Suchy, Citation2000a, Citation2000b; Sweet, Moberg, & Westergaard, Citation1996). Subsets of items have been dropped and added across surveys to track topics deemed timely.
The title “salary survey”, originated by Putnam (Citation1989), has been retained because of its recognition value in the neuropsychology literature. However, financial data solicited from current survey items are more aptly described as “income,” whereas “salary,” when applied to professionals, connotes a status of being an employee in an organization that is most frequently associated with a predetermined annual payment referred to as a “salary.” In reality, past surveys have demonstrated that many neuropsychologists have private practice incomes, rather than salaries.
Method
Survey development began in the fall of 2009. Most items from the 2005 AACN/TCN Salary Survey (Sweet et al., 2006) were maintained in their original format for the 2010 survey. However, some items were deleted (e.g., due to being less relevant to the field or not having produced useful information regarding change of beliefs of practices in past surveys) or modified (e.g., to prevent problematic data issues that arose during the previous surveying). New items were added to address emerging topics related to neuropsychological practice. Pilot data were collected from AACN Board members and adult and pediatric neuropsychologist colleagues in December 2010; survey structure and content was adjusted in response to feedback.
Based on the successful online survey experience with the 2005 AACN/TCN Salary Survey (Sweet et al., 2006), the commercial company PsychData (http://psychdata.com/) was again selected for the web-based survey. Web survey settings were set so that no identifying information was collected from respondents or their computers (e.g., IP address); therefore, survey respondents had complete anonymity of their responses. Participant data could be downloaded from the PsychData website directly into an SPSS file, which prevented data entry errors.
During early 2010, initial postcards were sent to 615 members and 37 senior members of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), 3955 members of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division 40, and to an all-categories membership list of 3550 individuals provided by the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN).Footnote1 After removing redundant names across mailing lists, 7,891 names were provided to an outside vendor, who further scrutinized the names and deleted more duplicates. Ultimately, a lower number of postcards were mailed. The postcard included instructions and information relevant to completion of the survey on the website. Announcements were also sent to the official e-mail listservs for AACN, Division 40, and NAN, as well as other listservs that are specifically neuropsychologically oriented (e.g., NPSYCH, PEDS). To assure that post-doctoral residents would be included, a mailing list from the Association of Post-doctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN) was utilized. In some instances colleagues forwarded e-mail announcements to the members of other neuropsychology organizations (e.g., Colorado Neuropsychological Society, Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society). Reminder postcards and listserv announcements were sent in April and May.
All completed surveys received by the morning of June 2 were examined for usability; 1731 cases were recorded. Duplicate records were deleted (e.g., individuals who began taking the survey, discontinued midway, and completed the survey in full a brief time later), and five individuals who indicated that they had not yet completed their doctorate were excluded from the sample. Thirteen participants indicated that they were not psychologists, psychologists-in-training, or qualified to be clinicians, and were excluded from the sample. Ultimately, the final sample included 1685 records.
Because the online survey was set to allow most items to be completed or skipped at the discretion of the respondent, sample sizes will vary across tables and sometimes within tables. Statistical analyses were carried out sparingly, under the basic assumption that most meaningful survey results would be apparent to the reader. Where statistics have been utilized, we decided not to include statistical significance of p < .05, due to the large sample size. Instead, statistical significances of p < .01 or p < .001 are reported.
Results
Response rate
In prior surveys we calculated estimates regarding how well the respondent sample approximated the total pool of clinical neuropsychologists who had been invited to participate, which was primarily doctoral-level members of APA's Division 40. For the present survey, even though we expressly targeted the memberships of AACN, Division 40, and NAN, we also attempted to saturate the US community of neuropsychologists by sending invitations via listserv and via smaller organizations. These invitations were electronic and could be easily forwarded to many additional individuals, which was consistent with our goal of being as inclusive as possible. The only drawback to this approach is that there is no method of precisely specifying (1) the actual denominator (i.e., the number representing the total number of doctoral-level neuropsychologists who received the survey invitation), (2) membership overlap between the many organizations and listservs whose members received the invitation, and (3) the number within some of the organizations and listservs who are licensed practitioners and post-doctoral residents, the true target audiences of the current survey. Adding to the present problems in calculating response rate, months after the survey was completed the NAN mailing list was discovered to have contained many names of individuals who were not NAN doctoral-level members. For all of these reasons, a computation of response rate is not possible. However, the 1685 respondents in the present survey represent a 56% increase in sample size compared to the final sample size of 1078 in the preceding 2005 TCN/AACN Salary Survey (Sweet et al., 2006). On that basis alone, and the most often meaningfully larger samples available for subgroup data analyses, it appears that the return rate can be considered representative of US clinical neuropsychologists.
General sample demographics and characteristics
shows that more than 80% of respondents attained a Ph.D. as their doctorate degree. Approximately three-fourths of the doctorates were awarded in clinical psychology, with the second largest group being doctorates in counseling psychology at 8.2%. Post-doctoral residents comprise 6.2% of the sample. The sample contains approximately 5% more women than men. Ethnic minorities represent approximately 10% of the sample, with the largest subgroup of these being Hispanic/Latino. Work status is full time or full time plus a second part time position for approximately 90% of the sample. Only eight respondents were unemployed.
Table 1. Characteristics of general sample of respondentsa
A substantial majority of respondents work in urban areas, with only 8.4% working in rural areas exclusively and an additional 12.6% working in both urban and rural areas. Institutional employment accounts for 40% of the sample, with 27.5% exclusively in private practice, and 26.1% working in both settings. Testing assistants are used by 48% of the sample, with the vast majority of these being paid assistants, rather than unpaid trainees. A slim majority of 54% of respondents have a professional identity of being an adult neuropsychologist. Whereas only 15.2% consider themselves exclusively a pediatric neuropsychologist, an additional 25.5% adhere to an identity that is pediatric and adult in nature. Board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) was reported by approximately one-third of the sample, with more than 90% of these individuals being board certified by the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN). Slightly less than 5% (n = 75) of the sample reported board certification through the American Board of Neuropsychology (ABN), with a subset of 36% (n = 27) holding one of the 13 ABPP specialty certifications and the ABN credential.
shows the place of residence of survey respondents among the 50 United States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The nine states in which the most neuropsychologists reside constitute more than half of the sample. Among the lowest-frequency entries at the bottom of , residents of 21 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico constitute only 10% of the sample. shows the U.S. regions of the sample, with the highest residential region being the South Atlantic at 18% and the lowest residential region being the East South Central at 4%.
Figure 1. Regions of residence (n = 1523). New England = Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont; Middle Atlantic = New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania; East North Central = Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin; West North Central = Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota; South Atlantic = Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia; East South Central = Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee; West South Central = Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas; Mountain = Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah; Pacific = Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington.
Table 2. Respondent state of licensure and primary employment
As shown in , excluding post-doctoral residents, the average age of licensed practitioners in the present sample is approximately 47 (range 28–85), with licenses having been attained approximately 14 years ago on average (range 1–53). Weekly professional activities in this licensed group are heavily clinical (mean = 67.7%; median = 75%), followed by non-clinical administration (mean = 10%; median = 6%) and teaching/training (mean = 6.7%; median = 4%). A new item in this survey showed amount of professional volunteer time, with a mean of 2.6% and a median of 0%. The median of zero percent indicates that many individuals do not engage in professional volunteerism.
Table 3. Age of licensed practitioners, years since licensed, and percent of weekly time devoted to clinical, research, and administrative duties and volunteer activities
shows the time needed in hours to complete evaluations related to referral questions and referral context. The briefest evaluation, not surprisingly, involves inpatient evaluations for determination of diagnosis (mean = 4.1 hours) and treatment planning (mean = 2.8 hours). Also not surprising, the lengthiest evaluation time is for evaluations in a forensic context (mean = 12.7 hours), followed by educational evaluations (mean = 7.6 hours). In each category of evaluation type there is a wide range of times reportedly necessary. These widely varying estimates from respondents can reflect a variety of factors, which are addressed in part by , which contains summary responses to a new survey item that targeted factors potentially affecting evaluation length. The listing of factors reflects the order resulting from “top five” selections by respondents. The five most frequently endorsed as affecting evaluation length were, in order: (1) the goal of evaluation; (2) stamina/health of examinee; (3) age of examinee; (4) sensory, motor, cognitive limitation; and (5) context (clinical vs forensic).
Table 4. Hours needed to complete evaluations related to referral questions and referral context
Table 5. “Choose Top Five” factors affecting the length of an evaluation
Post-doctoral residents
Survey data provided by post-doctoral residents are depicted in . With an average age of 31.7 years, women residents are in the majority. A majority of residents have attained a Ph.D. as their doctorate. Only a single resident reported having a part time position. Understandably, given the locations of most training programs, most residents are being trained in urban areas, with more than 90% being trained in institutions, rather than private practice. None was being trained in a combination of institution and private practice. Compared to the larger survey sample, which contains a 15.2% pediatric identity, 23.4% of residents are developing an exclusively pediatric identity. Although it appears that a larger proportion of residents endorse a pediatric identity, a z test for proportions was not significant (z = 1.77).
Table 6. Demographics of post-doctoral residents
shows that the mean and median salaries of post-doctoral residents in year one and in year two are primarily in the mid to upper 30,000 dollar range. Income satisfaction and job satisfaction were measured by separate 0–100 ratings, with 0 representing “completely dissatisfied” and 100 representing “completely satisfied”. The satisfaction ratings for post-doctoral residents are shown in . As would be expected, in keeping with training level salaries, post-doctoral residents report an average level of income satisfaction that is much lower than average job satisfaction. When categories of income satisfaction were offered, 72.6% reported some degree of dissatisfaction, ranging from “somewhat dissatisfied” to “completely dissatisfied.”
Table 7. Salaries of post-doctoral residents by year of residency
Table 8. Post-doctoral resident income and job satisfaction
Houston Conference influence
A new survey item inquired as to whether respondents believed that their training was consistent with the Houston Conference model of training. shows a graphic comparison of licensed clinicians and respondents who are current post-doctoral residents. Even among the licensed clinicians, many of whom were trained before the formal creation of Houston Conference training guidelines in 1997, two-thirds of respondents offered a self-appraisal of training having been consistent with the Houston model. Among current post-doctoral residents, consistency with Houston training guidelines was expressed by 88%.
Figure 2. “To the best of your knowledge, did your training in clinical neuropsychology follow the recommendations of the Houston Conference on Specialty Education and Training?”
shows a breakdown of self-appraisal of consistency with the Houston Conference training guidelines across years of licensed experience. As one might expect, the greater the number of years of licensed experience that a neuropsychologist reports, the less that he or she is likely to report that prior training adhered to the Houston training guidelines. However, surprisingly, even at 30 to 39 years of experience, which is decades before the Houston Conference, approximately one-third of respondents believe their training was consistent with the obviously influential training guidelines.
Table 9. Houston conference compatibility with training
Philosophical approach toward test selection
shows a comparison of survey responses dating back to 1989 regarding philosophical approach toward test selection. It is obvious that the trends apparent in the 1990s have continued. Specifically, the Flexible Battery has increased its predominant position to an impressive 78%, whereas the Fixed/Standardized Battery approach has continued its apparent decline to that of an historical footnote in terms of importance and influence in the specialty of clinical neuropsychology, now at only 5% endorsement. The Flexible approach has stabilized across recent surveys at 18%.
Figure 3. Primary philosophical approach toward test selection. “Flexible Battery” = variable but routine groups of tests for different types of patients, such as head injury, alcoholism, elderly, etc. “Flexible” = based upon the needs of an individual case, not uniform across patients. “Fixed/Standardized Battery” = routine group of tests uniform across patients, such as the Halstead-Reitan, Luria-Nebraska, Benton, or other standard battery.
Income from neuropsychological activities
Correlates of income
Select correlates of income are presented in . Years in clinical practice, percent weekly time devoted to clinical practice, forensic practice, and board certification of any kind have moderate relationships to income. Throughout the remainder of this article we will continue to present variables in a way that elucidates whether they appear to be related to income.
Table 10. Significant correlates of incomea
Testing assistants
For the approximately one-half of the sample who rely on the services of testing assistants, there are a number of associated significant findings, as shown in . Length of evaluation time is briefer and weekly clinical hours are fewer for those relying on assistants. The hourly fee charged and annual income associated with reliance on assistants are higher. Finally, both income satisfaction and job satisfaction are significantly higher among clinicians who work with assistants.
Table 11. Effects of utilizing a testing assistant
As noted previously in , the majority of testing assistants are paid. shows the percentages of paid assistants who are provided benefits in addition to pay. Only in the categories of paid post-doctoral residents and paid paraprofessionals are benefits provided almost routinely to testing assistants.
Table 12. Types of technician/psychometrician or other assistant utilized, by pay and benefits
Starting salaries
A perennial topic of discussion among post-doctoral training directors and their residents, as well as prospective employers, concerns what is a reasonable “entry level salary.” That is, what amount of money is reasonable as a new specialist to expect and as a prospective employer to pay. shows incomes reported by neuropsychologists who have entered the specialty relatively recently, broken down by general work setting. The incomes reported in less than one complete year, year one, year two, and year three are relatively consistent, with modest but steady increases across these years. In most categories, at least some individuals were earning over 100,000 dollars.
Table 13. Mean annual incomes in initial years of clinical practice by work setting
Years in clinical practice
continues the focus on the impact of years of experience, showing income at varying intervals of years in clinical practice. In the interval of 6–10 years, both mean and median increase to over 100,000 dollars, and at the 75th percentile income is at 140,000 dollars. The positive effect on income of years of experience continues all the way up to the category of above 25 years of experience, a point at which the 75th percentile is well over 200,000. shows a comparison of means and medians in 2005 and 2010 across intervals of years of practice experience. At all intervals the respondents in 2010 reported higher incomes than in 2005.
Figure 4. Five-year comparisons of income at varying intervals of years in clinical practice.
Table 14. Income at varying intervals of years in clinical practice
Income satisfaction and job satisfaction
Respondents were asked to identify satisfaction with their incomes on a 0 to 100 scale (with 0 being completely dissatisfied and 100 being completely satisfied). Separately, respondents rated job satisfaction on the same type of 0 to 100 scale. As shown in , respondents reported a lower mean and median income satisfaction compared to job satisfaction. With a median job satisfaction of 85 on a 100-point scale, one would expect that few neuropsychologists are making plans to leave their current position, and in fact, the related categorical ratings shown in bear this out. Only 4.5% of respondents were so dissatisfied with their current work position that they intended to actively seek out a different position.
Table 15. Overall job and income satisfaction
shows 2005 and 2010 categorical ratings of income satisfaction. Although not substantially different, there has been a slight shift in the direction of increased satisfaction from 2005 to 2010. Importantly, despite the context of a turbulent and recessed economy, there has been no erosion of income satisfaction among practicing neuropsychologists.
Figure 5. Comparison of income satisfaction from 2005 to 2010.
details additional information pertaining to actual income and satisfaction. Somewhat surprisingly, even though there is a moderate correlation between years of experience and income, there is only a very minor relationship between years of experience and income satisfaction and no significant relationship between years of experience and job satisfaction. There is a relatively minor relationship between income and job satisfaction, and a stronger relationship between income and income satisfaction. Of the variables that are presented in the correlation table in , the most substantial and positive relationship is between income satisfaction and job satisfaction; respondents who have a positive view of their income are more likely to have a positive view of their job.
Table 16. Correlations of years licensed, psychology income, income satisfaction, and job satisfaction
Finally, with regard to income and satisfaction, shows a breakdown of categorical income satisfaction and actual reported incomes. Among those who express some degree of dissatisfaction, ranging from completely to somewhat dissatisfied, there appears to be no relationship to actual income. In fact, the completely dissatisfied group reported a higher income than the group who reported being somewhat or mostly dissatisfied, with both latter groups reporting virtually the same incomes. However, for the groups expressing some degree of income satisfaction, there is a substantial and meaningful rise in income as income satisfaction increases.
Table 17. Gross psychology incomes and income satisfaction
Board certification
ABCN is the largest board-certification enterprise in the specialty of clinical neuropsychology (cf. Cox, Citation2010). The present survey sample included the largest sample of ABCN board-certified neuropsychologists that has ever been conducted. At the time the survey was conducted, there was a total of 730 living ABCN diplomates, of which 502 (69%) participated in the present survey. shows the incomes, years of clinical experience, income satisfaction, and job satisfaction of the ABCN respondents compared to non-ABCN respondents who provided responses to these same survey items. Incomes, years of clinical experience, and income satisfaction were statistically significant between groups, with ABCN respondents reporting the more favorable incomes, as well as greater income satisfaction. Given that the difference in income might be accounted for by the greater years of experience, an analysis of covariance was carried out, using years of experience. Incomes remained statistically significant between groups, even after covarying years of experience.
Table 18. Mean differences of income, income satisfaction, and job satisfaction for ABCN and non-ABCN respondents
shows additional characteristics of the ABCN sample. Average age is 49 years, with an average of 18 years of experience post licensure. Although the overall sample is comprised of 60.3% men, when limited to those trained more recently, specifically those with less than 15 years of experience, the majority are women. ABCN board-certified neuropsychologists holding additional ABPP credentials are most likely to have additional board certification in clinical psychology, followed by rehabilitation psychology. A total of 17 members, representing 3.4%, of the ABCN sample, also hold ABN certification. Paralleling the overall sample, the vast majority of ABCN respondents have a doctorate in clinical psychology, practice in an urban environment, and work full time. ABCN respondents tend to be employed in medical settings, followed by private practice. Professional identity is that of an adult neuropsychologist for 63.2%, with the remainder involved to some extent in pediatric care. ABCN respondents are more likely than the overall sample to rely on testing assistants, with 62.5% doing so. The proportion of ABCN respondents who endorse the flexible battery approach is comparable to the overall sample. A relatively high proportion of ABCN respondents are involved in forensic evaluations.
Table 19. Characteristics of ABCN respondents
shows that ABCN respondents who spend time working in urban and rural environments report higher incomes than those who work in only one of these environments. Middle Atlantic and Pacific ABCN respondents report the highest incomes, whereas those in the West North Central and the West South Central regions report the lowest incomes. ABCN respondents in private practice report much higher incomes, with mean incomes in excess of 200,000 dollars.
Table 20. Incomes for ABCN respondents
Professional volunteerism was addressed for the first time in the present survey. Of the ABCN members participating in the current survey, 464 respondents produced a mean involvement in volunteer activities per work week of 3.2% (SD = 5.2). This compares to a mean of 2.6% (SD = 6.0) in the larger sample, excluding residents (as shown in ).
Region of United States and work environment
shows incomes by regions of the United States. Means are highest in the Pacific and New England regions, whereas medians are highest in the New England, East South Central, and Pacific regions. Lowest incomes, in terms of means and medians, are reported in the West North Central region.
Table 21. Income by region of the United States
Across all states and regions, incomes by work environment (i.e., rural, urban, some time in both) is depicted in . Those respondents working in both report the highest income, followed by respondents working in an urban environment.
Table 22. Income by work environment
State of licensure and practice
Regions can have very different incomes in neighboring states. Therefore individual states and associated incomes are reported in . This table also shows income and job satisfaction by state, as well as increases and decreases in income compared to 5 years earlier. Note that Connecticut and Pennsylvania are far apart in reported incomes and yet report income satisfactions that are comparable, with nearly identical levels of job satisfaction. Also, all states reported a much greater percentage of individuals with 5-year income increase compared to those who experienced a decrease. In many states, fewer than 10% of respondents reported a decrease in income compared to 5 years prior.
Table 23. Incomes, income changes, income satisfaction, and job satisfaction by state of licensure and primary employment
Professional identity
Data related to gender, work status, general work setting, specific work environment, and use of testing assistants are presented in , all organized by self-assigned professional identity as a pediatric, adult, or combined pediatric/adult clinician. Respondents with a pure pediatric identity are more likely to be women, work on a part time basis, be employed in an institution, and work in an urban environment, while less likely to use testing assistants compared to pure adult identity respondents and those with a combined identity. Presented in the same table is a small group of individuals who reported not having one of the three identified professional identities. The survey item related to this category included the self-description that the psychologist did not consider her/himself to be a neuropsychologist. This latter group is more likely to work in private practice, less likely to work in an urban setting, and much less likely to use testing assistants than the other three common professional identity groups of neuropsychologists.
Table 24. Professional neuropsychology identity by gender, use of technicians, work status, work setting, and income setting
Additional information organized by professional identity is presented in . Those who do not identify with the three common neuropsychology identities appear to be older and have been practicing longer, whereas the pure pediatric identify respondents are somewhat younger and have fewer years of clinical experience. The combined pediatric/adult respondents and those without a neuropsychology identity appear to be engaged in more forensic activities than the other two groups. Neuropsychological evaluation time in hours per examinee is greatest in the pure pediatric group and least in the pure adult group. Clinical fees are wide ranging, with the highest average fee per hour in the pure pediatric group and the lowest in the no identity group. Income satisfaction and job satisfaction are lowest in the no identity group, whereas income satisfaction appears highest and comparable in the pure adult group and the combined pediatric/adult group. Job satisfaction is comparable across the other three groups.
Table 25. Professional neuropsychology identity basic demographics and time spent in professional activity
The percentage of time spent with different age patient groups would be expected to vary across professional identity. This fact is borne out by the data that are presented in . Note that even in the pure pediatric group, one-third of respondents spend zero percent of their professional time with children age 3 and younger, and a total of over 98% spend a relatively small amount of their work week with children this age. Approximately 86% spend 0–25% of their work week with children age 4–5. No one in the pure pediatric group spends more than 50% of their work week with children age 5 or younger, which is in contrast to the older age ranges of children and adolescents.
Table 26. Professional neuropsychology identity by percentage of time spent with various age cohorts
A new item in the 2010 survey asked respondents to choose and rank the top 5 factors that affect length of evaluation from a list of 14 possible factors. The overall results of those choices were presented in . The third ranked factor, endorsed by more than half of the respondents, was age of examinee. Therefore it might be expected that factors chosen might vary by professional identity, which is demonstrated in . Context (clinical vs forensic) enters the top five only for the pure adult and combined pediatric/adult groups, whereas only the pure pediatric and the no identity groups rated presence of comorbid conditions in the top five.
Table 27. Top five factors affecting the length of an evaluation by professional identity
Finally, with regard to information pertinent to professional identity, demonstrates that incomes vary appreciably across professional identities, with those who have no distinct identity and pure pediatric respondents reporting the lowest average incomes and the combined pediatric/adult respondents reporting the highest. compares 2005 income data with 2010, broken down by professional identity. A meaningful increase from 2005 to 2010 is evident in all four groups, for both mean and median incomes.
Figure 6. Five year comparisons of income by professional neuropsychology identity.
Table 28. Mean annual incomes by professional neuropsychology identitya
General work settings
presents income data by general work setting. Respondents working in institutions reported the lowest mean and median incomes. Mean incomes were highest in private practice, whereas medians for private practice and combined private practice/institution employment are identical. compares 2005 and 2010 income data by work setting, clearly depicting a rise in mean and median incomes for all three general work settings.
Figure 7. Mean and median annual incomes by general work setting.
Table 29. Mean annual incomes by general work settinga
Finally, with regard to general work settings, depicts 2010 income as a function of years in licensed clinical practice. At all levels of practice experience, incomes of institutional respondents lag behind those of private practice respondents. Those who work in both institution and private practice settings simultaneously appear to hold early and mid career income advantage over private practitioners, until approximately year 20, when private practice only respondents become the highest income earners.
Table 30. Mean and median incomes by general work setting and years in clinical practice
Specific work settings
shows the detailed breakdown of employment characteristics within institutions, by type of institution, department, academic rank, and position title. Primary university hospital/academic medical centers and academic affiliate hospital/medical centers are by far the largest employment sites, accounting for 43.6% of institutional employment. The top five departments in which respondents are most frequently employed are: psychology (23.9%), psychiatry (20.3%), neuropsychology (13.5%), rehabilitation (11.8%), and neurology (11.4%). For 44.5% of respondents, academic rank is not applicable. Assistant professors comprised 26.0%, associated professors 13.0%, and professors 9.6%. A staff position title of neuropsychologist or psychologist was applicable to 58%, with the next two most frequent titles being clinical program director at 10.4% and “other” at 9.9%.
Table 31. Breakdown of specific settings, departments, academic ranks, and position titles within institutionsa
Incomes related to specific institutional settings, primary department of employment, academic rank, and position title are reported separately in , , , and , respectively. It is apparent that each of these variables has a substantial impact on annual income; income ranges for each breakdown are very broad. Within specific institutional settings, military hospital employment is associated with the highest reported mean and median incomes, whereas public specialty hospital is associated with the lowest mean and median incomes. Among departments, the highest mean and median incomes were reported by respondents working in a neuroscience department, with the lowest mean (but not median) income reported in primary care departments. The latter figures may be unreliable, given the fact that few neuropsychologists are employed in primary care departments. As might be expected with incomes reported by academic rank, as rank increases so do the reported mean and median incomes. Similarly, some of the position titles associated with increased professional responsibility show an expected income increase, with clinical program directors, division heads, and department chairs reporting progressively higher mean incomes. It is noteworthy that research program directors report mean incomes second only to department chairs and median incomes that are higher than all other position titles.
Table 32. Mean annual incomes by specific institutional settinga
Table 33. Mean annual incomes by institutional departmenta
Table 34. Mean annual incomes by institutional academic ranka
Table 35. Mean annual incomes by institutional position titlea
Similar to varying employment roles in institutional settings, roles in private practice can also vary. shows the various roles and the incomes associated with various roles in private practice for those who work at least 80% of their work week in private practice. Most private practice respondents operate as sole proprietors and in so doing report the highest mean and median incomes. By comparison, respondents who are employees in a private practice owned by someone else report substantially lower mean and median incomes.
Table 36. Psychology incomes and private practice roles
Finally, with regard to specific work settings, shows data from respondents who work in institutions and private practice simultaneously. Specifically, this table presents the number of clinical hours worked and incomes associated with increasing levels of professional work time spent in institutions. As the proportion of time spent in institutional work increases, and therefore time spent in private practice decreases, the number of weekly clinical hours decreases significantly. Although average income decreases meaningfully (e.g., from 168.3 thousand dollars to 142.0 thousand) as institutional time increases, the standard deviations are large, such that the mean differences are not significantly different.
Table 37. Weekly clinical hours and psychology income for respondents work in institution and private practice
Forensic practice
Demographic differences between those participating in forensic practice versus not engaging in forensic practice are presented in . More than half of female respondents do not participate, whereas only approximately 30% of male respondents do not. Almost 63% of those working exclusively in institutions do not participate, compared to approximately one-fourth of respondents in private practice. Approximately three-fourths of private practitioners engage in forensic practice, whereas in most other specific work settings the proportion is closer to, or less than, half who participate. Nearly three-fourths of respondents whose neuropsychology identity is that of a combined pediatric and adult practitioner are engaged in forensic practice, in contrast to only one-third of those with a purely pediatric identity.
Table 38. Demographic variables and forensic practice
displays frequencies and percentages of involvement in forensic practice by gender, general work setting, specific work setting, and neuropsychology identity. Percentage of work week spent on forensic practice is not significantly different in terms of gender, although readers should note that this represents responses from the much smaller proportion of women who engage in forensic practice, as depicted in . In terms of general work setting, neuropsychologists who work in private practice, with no portion of their work carried out in institutions spend significantly more of their weekly time on forensic practice, whereas those working in institutions with no portion of their work carried out in private practice are involved much less in forensic practice. Somewhat unexpectedly, with regard to specific work settings, respondents working in rehabilitation and medical settings appear to be less engaged in forensic practice than those working in psychiatric settings. Those with a purely pediatric identify are much less involved in forensic practice.
Table 39. Demographic variables and percent of weekly time devoted to forensic practice among participants who have a forensic practice
depicts incomes according to six categories of increasing involvement in forensic practice. In terms of mean incomes, there is a positive and linear relationship between incomes and percentage of weekly work time spent on forensic practice. This same pattern holds true for the median income data, with the exception of a single category (60–79%). also shows that approximately one-half of the sample is not involved in forensic practice at all.
Table 40. Incomes and frequencies at various levels of forensic activity
Relationships of key variables to involvement in forensic practice are shown in . Those who are involved versus not involved at all in forensic practice differ significantly in years of clinical practice, with years of clinical experience significantly higher in the group that is involved. Job satisfaction is significantly higher in the group that is involved in forensic practice, as is income satisfaction. Mean income is also significantly higher in the group involved in forensic practice.
Table 41. Forensic activity: Extent, years in clinical practice, job satisfaction, income satisfaction, and income
Clinical productivity expectations
Whether working in private practice or in institutions, some employers apply productivity expectations in a manner that can affect income. Data related to this topic are presented in . The results of several questions seem somewhat at odds. That is, in general, the effect of having a quota or a productivity expectation in one's clinical position seems to have a negligible or slightly negative effect on income. However, the follow-up questions regarding whether the impact of productivity can increase or decrease one's income produced a very substantial effect, which in both instances was associated with much higher incomes. Mean and median hourly fees do not appear to be influenced by the presence of productivity expectations. Income satisfaction and job satisfaction also do not appear to be substantially affected by productivity expectations.
Table 42. Institutional income, income satisfaction, job satisfaction, and hourly fee by level of clinical productivity
Most common diagnoses of examinees
Respondents were asked to rank the top five diagnostic conditions for which examinees were referred. shows the results from 2005 and 2010, broken down by professional identity. Whereas in 2005 ADHD did not make the top five for adult respondents, in 2010 ADHD made the top five for all three professional identities, moving from second to first among pediatric respondents. The top three for adults have not changed across the 5-year interval, with elderly dementias, closed head injury/traumatic brain injury, and stroke or cerebrovascular accident, in that order. In 2010 the category of “other medical/neurological conditions” was fourth for the adult respondents and fifth for the combined pediatric/adult respondents, whereas this category of conditions did not make any of the three top five lists in 2005.
Table 43. Top five rankings of diagnostic conditions evaluated in neuropsychological assessment by professional identity in 2005 vs 2010
Most common referral sources
shows the top five rankings of referral sources by general work setting and by professional identity. Across work settings and professional identities, neurology was the number one referral source. Rankings two through five tend to be distinct across both variables of interest in terms of exact ranking, but tend to overlap with regard to sharing most of the same top five referral sources. Among unique referral sources within one of the three general work settings, only private practice ranks pediatrics and only institution ranks rehabilitation (defined separately from psychiatry) among the top five.
Table 44. Top five rankings of referral sources evaluated in neuropsychological assessment by general work setting and professional identity
Regarding professional identity, unique rankings are seen in pediatric respondents ranking school system, self-referral, and other in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. The adult respondents uniquely ranked psychiatry and rehabilitation as fourth and fifth, respectively. Pediatric/adult respondents ranked law (attorney) uniquely, in fifth place.
Journals “subscribed to” and “read regularly”
In the present survey the detailed listing of journals used in prior surveys was shortened by only including journals that had received at least a total of 10% endorsement as being subscribed to or read regularly in the 2005 survey. As in 2005, the ratings of subscribing or reading the journal are mutually exclusive. The results of the current journal ratings are shown in . Journals affiliated with large organizations whose members received the journal as a member benefit fare best in these ratings, with the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (JINS) ranked first in terms of subscriptions and Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (ACN) ranked second. The Clinical Neuropsychologist (TCN), with a smaller society membership, ranked third in subscriptions. Interestingly, the read-regularly endorsements produce a fairly different result, with TCN ranked first, ACN second, and the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (JCEN) ranked third. JINS fell to fifth place in terms of the read regularly ratings. The ranking totals, representing subscriptions plus non-subscribers who nevertheless read the journal regularly, show ACN first, JINS second, and TCN third.
Table 45. Psychology and medical journals subscribed to or read regularly
Survey satisfaction
The final survey item asked respondents to express their opinion regarding whether pertinent important information and variables relevant to their respective income and practice activities had been gathered by the survey. Six categories were offered, with three reflecting degrees of dissatisfaction (12.4%) and three reflecting degrees of satisfaction (87.6%). Combining the top two categories, 65.3% of respondents endorsed either “mostly satisfied” or “completely satisfied”, with the latter category consisting of 101 individuals (9.2%). Only 3.9% were either “mostly dissatisfied” or “completely dissatisfied”, with the latter group consisting of six individuals (0.5%).
Discussion
The present survey updates information regarding characteristics of clinical neuropsychologists and their practices, and provides information on new topics that were not addressed in prior surveys. Because of the amount of information generated by this type of professional practice survey, we will selectively address our summary and inferential, instead of exhaustively discussing all of the findings, as doing so would take inordinate space. Moreover, most survey data simply do not need explanation, as the numbers “speak for themselves.”
Stability and change across time
There has been a stability of age across surveys at 5-year intervals dating back to data collected in 1989 (Sweet & Moberg, Citation1990). The fact that the average age of clinical neuropsychologists remains near the midrange of 40s means that there is a steady influx of new specialists entering the field after completing training. Were that not the case, the average age would be increasing as those already practicing continue to age. For the purpose of comparison, in 2009 the average age of APA members, inclusive of affiliates, full members, and fellows, was 54.3 (SD = 14.6) (APA Center for Workforce Studies, February 2010; downloaded October 26, 2010 at http://www.apa.org/workforce/publications/09-member/index.aspx). Thus, at present, the average practicing neuropsychologist appears to be younger than the average member of APA.
In contrast to the stable average age of neuropsychologists across time, gender representation in the specialty has changed markedly over time. Most readers are already familiar with the phrase “feminization of psychology,” a phrase coined in the 1980s that was based on data analyzed by an APA Committee on Employment and Human Resources (Howard et al., Citation1986). As noted by Ostertag and McNamara (Citation1991), the overall trend of awarding doctorates in psychology to women jumped steadily, and eventually dramatically, from 1950 (14.8%) to 1980 (42.3%). In 1984 women received half of the psychology doctorates, and by 1988 women received almost 10% more psychology doctorates than men. This trend continued through the 1990s, until for example in 2001 more than 70% of new doctorates were earned by women (downloaded from http://www.apa.org/workforce/snapshots/2003/women-in-psych.aspx October 27, 2010). By comparison, past surveys demonstrated that the specialty of clinical neuropsychology lagged far behind the trend for psychology at large. Data collected in 1989, 1994, and 1999 showed that whether grouped as board certified or not or as employed in institutions or in private practice, women typically comprised fewer than 30% of the survey respondents (Sweet et al., Citation2000a, Citation2000b). By 2005, women specializing in clinical neuropsychology produced a post-doctoral resident sample of approximately 71% women, and the sample of all survey respondents in 2005 was almost equal in terms of gender (Sweet et al., 2006). In 2010 the post-doctoral resident sample is again predominantly women (70.5%), and for the first time in any neuropsychology practice survey the sample of all survey respondents shows a majority of women (5.6% more than men). It seems very likely that the proportion of women in neuropsychology will continue to increase, eventually matching the field of psychology as a whole.
Stability across time is evident in the Ph.D. being the dominant degree choice and in clinical psychology remaining the dominant doctoral degree area of study across surveys. Similarly, full time work status has remained stable and predominant across time. High rate of employment, with less than 1% unemployed, has also been a stable feature of the specialty. This fact takes on special significance in the context of an international economic downturn that has left the United States with a national unemployment figure that has often hovered around 9–10% in recent years.
Based on prior survey data (Sweet et al., Citation2000a), private practice had become the work setting of the majority of clinical neuropsychologists, whereas previously the majority had worked in institutional settings. This continues to be the case, removing post-doctoral residents from consideration, approximately 57% of respondents report working either full time or part time in private practice. As has been true in past surveys, private practice as a sole endeavor or in combination with part time institutional employment continues to be associated with higher income. Also continuing to be related positively to income are factors such as involvement in forensic activity, professional identity, board certification, and years of licensed clinical experience.
There has been a relative stability in practitioners relying on testing assistants, ranging narrowly from just above to just below half of respondents doing so across numerous surveys, including the present. Use of testing assistants is more common in institutional work settings.
There has been a continuation of change in the same direction with regard to philosophical approach to test selection. The data displayed in show progressively increased endorsement of the “flexible battery” approach since 1989, whereas there is continued decreased endorsement of the “fixed/standardized” approach. Now at an all-time low of 5% endorsement, even if the decreasing trend of acceptance of the last 20 years continues, this fact would not diminish the important historical significance of the fixed/standardized approach having been the original bedrock foundation for the development of clinical neuropsychology in North America in the latter half of the twentieth century (cf. Reed & Reed, Citation1997).
The percentage of time devoted to clinical practice on a weekly basis is approximately the same as it was in 2005. Although the number of hours of clinical work per week has also remained stable from 2005 to 2010, the number of hours invested by clinicians per evaluation has increased an hour or more whether or not testing assistants are used. This latter finding could represent a change in either the clinical conditions being seen by neuropsychologists or a change in referral sources. However, comparisons in and do not reveal the degree of change that might explain an average increase in evaluation length. Relevant information may be contained within a new item that elicited primary factors (see ) that affect evaluation length, which varies somewhat according to professional neuropsychological identity, as shown in . However, no prior data are available for comparison.
For a number of years APA has emphasized diversity and has attempted to increase the presence of ethnic minorities in the field of psychology. Similar attention has begun to be given to diversity within the specialty of clinical neuropsychology (e.g., Mindt, Byrd, Saez, & Manly, Citation2010; Romero et al., Citation2009). Comparing 2005 and 2010, there has been a slight decrease in the majority category of Caucasian/White, but little notable change in any specific ethnic minority category. An increase in diversity in recent years is more strongly suggested by comparison to APA's Division 40 membership, which in 2006 was reported by APA to include 6% ethnic minorities, compared to approximately 10% in the present survey.
Finally, with regard to stability and change, as was the case in 2005, when asked to gauge relative change in income over the preceding 5 years, the vast majority of respondents reported an increased income. , , and provide convincing evidence that this increase was experienced across all levels of licensed practice experience, all professional identities and all general work settings. In all six categories income satisfaction remained nearly the same, with 50% of respondents reporting being “mostly” or “completely” satisfied with their income. Within the current economic context, which was so severe that it led to massive government stimulus intervention, this continued upswing in income over the last 5 years is impressive. During the 5-year interval from the prior survey to the present survey, there was a very noticeable increase in the creation of new positions for clinical neuropsychologists related to the military, and especially in Veterans Affairs medical centers. Given a relatively stable supply of new specialists entering the field from training programs, one can speculate that this increased demand has had a substantial impact in raising salaries. However, this is not the only factor likely to be affecting income. For example, the involvement of clinical neuropsychologists in forensic activities has continued to increase across decades, with the most dramatic evidence of increase appearing subsequent to 2000 (cf. Sweet & Westerveld, in press). Whichever factors are responsible, comparison of actual means and medians from 2005 and 2010 show that when collapsed across years of clinical experience, mean income rose 22.6 thousand and median income rose 18.8 thousand. Related, entry-level or starting salaries, whether limited to the initial entry point within the first year or at any point during the first 5 years, have increased substantially from 2005 to 2010. For example, mean and median data from 2005 suggest that a common starting salary was approximately 65,000 dollars, whereas present data suggest that a common starting salary is in the range of 75,000–80,000 dollars. This range would, of course, vary by state and region.
Houston Conference
New to the present survey was an item that attempted to grossly determine the extent to which the 1997 Houston Conference training guidelines (Hannay et al., 2008) had affected the specialty. A two-thirds majority believe that their training was consistent with the Houston model, with percentages decreasing as the years of licensed experience increased. This makes sense in that many senior neuropsychologists were trained years before the Houston model was created, and during an era in which post-doctoral training was scarce. Importantly, providing clear evidence that the Houston model has made a substantial impact, 88% of current residents describe their training as consistent with the Houston model.
Professional identity
Professional identity was first assessed during the 2005 salary survey, and at that time was found to be associated meaningfully with a number of variables, such as income, gender, work status, and hours required to complete an evaluation. Again in 2010, these and other factors are differentiated by professional identity. Specifically, the pure pediatric identity is associated with a lower income, a greater proportion of women practitioners, part time work status, institutional work setting, and lengthier evaluations. As was true in 2005, current post-doctoral residents have identified pediatric neuropsychology as their identity more frequently than the overall sample of practitioners, which suggests a trend toward an increasing number of sub-specialists entering the field. Related, in the 5-year interval between surveys, the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology has been working with the American Board of Professional Psychology on a sub-specialty pathway. Presently, the interim step of developing a sub-specialty special interest group in pediatric neuropsychology is in its second year of existence. Given the degree of activity in forensic activities that repeated surveys have demonstrated, one wonders whether an additional formal sub-specialty in forensic neuropsychology will also begin to evolve.
Understanding income satisfaction and job satisfaction: Context matters
Inquisitiveness regarding the relationship between money and happiness has produced a substantial literature. Beyond the typical conclusion, which is most often that amount of money has little bearing on individual happiness, Cummins (Citation2000) has interpreted relevant data to support the idea that to some extent wealth buffers individuals against the stress of negative events. In a separate review Diener and Seligman (Citation2004) concluded that as a society gains wealth well-being is less influenced by income than by relationships and work enjoyment. Within the last year several interesting viewpoints have been expressed, which have contextual relevance for present findings. Judge, Piccolo, Podsakoff, Shaw, and Rich (Citation2010) used meta-analaytic techniques to study the relationship between income and satisfaction with income and job. Based on 115 correlations from 92 independent samples, these authors found an overall correlation of only .23 between income and income satisfaction and an even lower correlation of .15 between income and job satisfaction. Why are these correlations so low? In the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Kahneman and Deaton (Citation2010) reported on an analysis of more than 450,000 US residents to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, completed at the rate of 1000 individuals a day in 2008 and 2009. Kahneman and Deaton found that emotional well-being has a positive relationship to income, but only up to 75,000 dollars annually and not beyond that point. Consistent with the suggestion of Cummins (Citation2000) regarding income as a buffer against negative events, Kahneman and Deaton (Citation2010, p. 16489) surmise that “Low income exacerbates the emotional pain associated with such misfortunes as divorce, ill health, and being alone.” Presumably, once basic needs and substantial buffering against negative events takes place, greater amounts of income do not increase well-being.
What, then, do we make of income satisfaction and job satisfaction data in clinical neuropsychology, within which the mean and median starting salaries are now higher than the dollar figure identified as influencing emotional well-being? First, the correlations between actual income and income satisfaction in 2005 (.37) and in 2010 (.33) for clinical neuropsychologists are appreciably higher than the meta-analytic study of Judge et al. (Citation2010), which reported a correlation of only .23. Second, the correlations between actual income and job satisfaction in 2005 (.19) and in 2010 (.18) are quite similar to the .15 correlation reported by Judge et al. Perhaps part of the difference between the findings of the present study and the Judge et al. study can be explained by the fact that the average income of the 61 studies included in their meta-analysis was 64,119, which is substantially lower than the present study. The Kahneman and Deaton (Citation2010) conclusion that incomes higher than 75,000 do not lead to greater well-being may not be taking into account a discrimination that individuals can make between their income satisfaction and their job satisfaction. One's satisfaction with a career can be separable from one's satisfaction with the money earned in that career. For example, Judge et al. cited studies showing that highly paid lawyers making an average $148,000 were less satisfied with their jobs than were childcare workers earning an average of only $23,500 annually. However, adding some difficulty to simple interpretations, both in 2005 and in 2010 the relationship between income satisfaction and job satisfaction was much higher than either variable alone with income, at .60 in 2005 and .52 in 2010.
What is clear and simple to interpret is that in 2010 fewer than 5% of clinical neuropsychologists in the present sample are so disenfranchised with their current job positions that they are very interested in leaving their present positions and “… will actively seek a new position”. This percentage is even smaller than in the 2005 survey data. When compared to national job satisfaction data, the differences on this exact point are profound. In a press release, Manpower Inc. (2009, November 19) reported that when 900 North American workers were asked “Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010?”, 60% said “yes,” 21% said “maybe,” 6% reported that it was not likely but “I’ve updated my resume,” and only 13% said “no.” It seems that clinical neuropsychologists, by comparison, can be considered to be very satisfied with their jobs, even in the context of widely varying incomes.
Final Comments
Survey data pertinent to the specialty of clinical neuropsychology have been collected since the 1980s. These data have illustrated various professional practices, beliefs, and characteristics of clinical neuropsychologists, and have allowed for identification of trends in the development of professional identities, trends in the proportional representation of women, the penetration of the most identified training model, job satisfaction, as well as important variables that affect the quality of life of individual specialists, such as income, job satisfaction, work status, and typical work activities.
Without data collected specifically from clinical neuropsychologists, we would have no way of knowing that the survey data released by APA pertaining to psychologists is either grossly erroneous or is grossly irrelevant to clinical neuropsychologists. For example, Jacobsen (Citation2009) presented data from the APA Center for Workforce Studies that reported the 2006 median annual income of full time PhD psychologists was $70,000, a figure that was far below the 2005 data for neuropsychologists. Moreover, in April 2010 APA's monthly publication for members, Monitor, (downloaded from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/04/salaries.aspx October 29, 2010), the description of median salaries declining substantially for APA “across the board” from 2001 to 2010 is grossly and inescapably wrong as applied to clinical neuropsychology's thousands of practitioners, in light of 2005 and 2010 data specifically relevant to clinical neuropsychology. Moreover, an APA bar graph showing the median income of “direct health service providers” to be well under $60,000 makes no sense for any specialty of psychology when one considers the simple fact that even starting salaries have been higher than this for a number of years. Finally, although there are very few specialties of psychology that have undertaken extensive self-analysis via surveys, since 2002 the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology has performed such surveys. As most recently reported, based on 2009 data Khanna and Medsker (Citation2010, p. 18) stated, “Comparing weighted medians, we found that primary income for those with doctorates increased for each year in which it has been measured since 2002.” In 2005 and 2006 the median incomes were in the $90,000s and in 2008 and 2009 the median incomes were over $100,000. Such data from another psychology specialty add to the appearance that APA's data are erroneous. There may be no better example regarding reasons that specialties gather their own professional practice and income data. We continue to believe that a 5-year interval survey can provide useful information to specialists in clinical neuropsychology.
Acknowledgments
The funding source for the survey was the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. Funding was used for costs associated with postcard production and postage, as well as to pay for the services of the web-based survey company PsychData. No funding was provided to the surveyors. The survey team is grateful and extends thanks for the cooperation and assistance of the American Psychological Association Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology), Association of Post-doctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology, and National Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. Also, a special thank you to Division 40 President Celiane Rey-Casserly who facilitated the means of inviting D40 members directly. The surveyors also thank Laura Howe for distributing announcements on NPSYCH, as well as numerous other neuropsychologists who supported this project by posting survey announcements to state organizations and special interest groups. Finally, thanks to all the respondents who took time to participate.
The authors thank Leslie Guidotti Breting for assistance with a subset of statistical analyses and with editing of the original manuscript.
A portion of the 2010 survey data was presented as a scientific poster and as a business meeting PowerPoint presentation at the annual AACN meeting in Chicago in June 2010.
Notes
1The NAN mailing list was discovered to have included many more names than were intended. This number included students, associates, and affiliates. Based on communications with NAN office personnel on 11/04/2010 and 11/08/2010 the “professional” members at the outset of the survey project numbered 1897, with an additional 264 Fellows, for a total of 2161.
Related Research Data
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