A Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) Profile Typology: III. Relationship to Cognitive Functioning and Classroom Placement

Abstract

Clinical and educational assessment of children requires reliable and valid measures of their behavioral, cognitive, and emotional functioning. The inadequacy of traditional psychiatric categories has long been recognized, and the importance of accurate child adjustment information for educational placement has been appreciated increasingly. This study evaluated the external validity of a new, 12 profile type classification system for the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) and used cognitive functioning and special education placement data as external criteria. Children who obtained the 12 PIC profile types differed significantly in their performance on several individually administered intellectual and academic tests and their placement in regular vs. special education classrooms. Implications of these findings for use of this profile typology as a screening tool in educational settings are discussed.

Subtypes of Psychopathology in Children Referred for Neuropsychological Assessment

“…Efforts have focused on the development of classification rules, the identification of case history correlates, the identification of the cognitive and academic features associated with each profile type, and the convergence with clinical diagnosis (Kline, Lachar, & Boersma, 1987;Kline, Lachar, & Gdowski, 1987;Kline, Lachar, & Gdowski, 1992;Lacombe, Kline, Lachar, Butkus, & Hillman, 1991).…”

Evaluation of age, sex, and race bias in the Personality Inventory for Children.

“…We have also found the concurrent validity of PIC profile scales to be unaffected by the presence of maternal psychopathology (Lachar, Kline, & Gdowski, 1987). A classification typology for whole PIC profiles is also available (Gdowski, Lachar, & Kline, 1985; Kline, Lachar, & Gdowski, 1987, 1992; Kline, Lachar, & Boersma, 1987; Lachar, Kline, & Boersma, 1986; LaCombe, Kline, & Lachar, 1991). Additional psychometric properties of PIC scales and interpretive guidelines are summarized in the test manuals (Lachar, 1982; Wirt et al, 1984) and one monograph (Lachar & Gdowski, 1979).…”

Case history correlates of a Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) profile typology.

“…Subsequently, we devised rules to classify the PIC profiles of individual children into this typology (Kline, Lachar, & Gdowski, 1987). We have also conducted several validation studies of this classification system using different types of external criteria (e.g., teacher and clinician symptom ratings; individually administered intelligence and scholastic tests; special education placement; psychiatric diagnoses; Gdowski et al, 1985; Kline, Lachar, & Boersma, 1987; Kline, Lachar, & Gdowski, 1987, in press; Lachar, Kline, & Boersma, 1986).…”

“…3As ACH, IS, and DVL play an important role in the classification of PIC profiles into this typology, it is important to demonstrate that “cognitive triad” scores relate to child cognitive status. Kline, Lachar, & Boersma (1987) reported the following average WISC-R FSIQ scores of children in public schools who received different PIC profile types: Type 1, 104; Types 3–6, 75; Types 7–12, 94. More generally, scores on ACH, IS, and DVL correlate about −.60 to −.40 with Wechsler IQ scores (Beck & Spruill, 1987; Keenan & Lachar, 1988; Kline, Lachar, & Sprague, 1985).…”