Publication Date
12-1976
Advisor(s) - Committee Chair
Harry Robe, David Shiek, Lois Layne
Degree Program
Department of Psychology
Degree Type
Master of Arts
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the predictive efficiency of verbal and nonverbal measures of intellectual functioning of the disadvantaged child in a preschool setting. The Peabody Individual Achievement Test (FIAT) was used as a measure of the current achievement level, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI), Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT), and the Bender Gestalt as predictors of achievement. The sample included 30 preschool children in an age range from 5 years - 0 months to 6 years - 7 months who were enrolled in a preschool program for the culturally deprived.
Both the relationships between single variables and combinations of these variables were studied with the Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regressions analyses. The achievement measure, PIAT, was used as the dependent variable, and 15 verbal and nonverbal factors were included as independent variables.
of the 15 independent variables, only the Bender Gestalt, a nonverbal measure of intelligence, correlated significantly with the criterion dependent variable, PIAT, and accounted for most of the variance in predicting the achievement, measure. The Bender Gestalt accounted for 34% of the total variance. The Information subtest of the WPPSI accounted for an additional 101, the WPPSI Block Design subtest also accounted for an additional 4' of the variance, while other factors including the WPPSI Full Scale were negligible.
Implications for further research included a continuation of this same sample for a period of three to five years in a longitudinal study to determine if the same results with achievement and nonverbal intelligence would occur. Another implication would be to investigate other populations of like programs to determine if the predictors would remain constant with the results of this study. Finally, another area of study could include sex differences and the effect that these differences would have upon these measures in a population different from this one.
Disciplines
Child Psychology | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Psychology
Recommended Citation
Freeman, Beverly, "The Efficiency of Verbal & Nonverbal Intellectual Measures as Predictors of Achievement in Culturally Deprived Preschool Children" (1976). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 2365.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2365