Categorization of patients with personality disorders and acute brain trauma through WAIS subtest variations

Abstract

PROBLEMResearch designed to test many of Wechsler's (?) hypotheses relating subtest differences t o various psychiatric diagnostic categories has often been equivocal for reasons other than the inadequacies of the hypotheses. For example, factors such as retardation ( 4 ) and cultural and educational (5) deprivation may provide as tenable an explanation as do personality characteristics for the inferior performance of criminals and delinquents on Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) verbal scale subtests. Institutionalization and the chronicity of disorders such as brain injury(2) may have an effect on subtest variations.This study brings many of the above-mentioned factors, e.g., education, chronicity and institutionalization, under control while attempting to find criteria by which acutely brain-injured patients and those with personality disorders could be effectively distinguished. Specifically, the hypotheses (2-relating brain injury to lower scores on WAIS performance subtests as compared with WAIS verbal subtests, and personality disorder to lower verbal subtest scores as compared with performance subtest scores were tested. METHODSubjects. Seventy male Kavy enlisted men were selected from a population of over 500 persons who were administered the WAIS as a part of the evaluation procedure a t the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. The sample was equally divided between those 8s (N = 35) who had finished 12 years of formal education (HS) and those Ss (N = 35) who had not (NHS). The two groups differed significantly (M diff. = 3.06; 1 = 6.296, df = 68, p < .001) in education and in WAIS Full Scale I& (M diff. = 10.80; t = 4.154, df = 68, p < .01). Twenty-two of the HS group had been hospitalized for a closed head injury and had been diagnosed as suffering from acute brain trauma (A4 age = 22.95; M educ. = 12.36); 13 had undergone disciplinary action and had received a psychiatric diagnosis as one of the personality disorders (M age = 24.61; M educ. --12.39). Neither the age ( 1 = .613, df = 33) nor the education (t = .030, df = 33) of the two groups diff ered significantly .Twenty of the remaining 35 NHS Ss had been hospitalized for a closed head injury and been diagnosed as suffering from acute brain trauma (M age = 23.25; M educ. = 9.50), and 15 had undergone disciplinary action and been diagnosed as one of the personality disorders (&I age = 21.13; M educ. = 9.07). The two groups did not differ significantly in either age ( t = ,263, df = 33) or education (t = 1.110, df = 33). All Ss were diagnosed through criteria that differed from the dependent variable of this study, i e . , through neurological and psychiatric evaluations.Measures and Procedures. All SS were administered the WAIS under standard(6) conditions within 3 weeks of their hospitalization or institutionalization. WAIS Verbal I& (VIQ), WAIS Performance IQ (PIQ) and scaled subtest scores elicited from the 22 brain-injured members of the HS group were compared with those elicited from the HS personality disorders. Similar comparisons were then m...

Violent behavior and differential WAIS characteristics.

“…Studies employing cognitive measures reflect a similar pattern. Davis, Becker, and DeWolfe (1971) found significant differences between Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) subtest scores for two groups of Navy enlistees, one group requiring disciplinary action and the other group suffering from acute brain trauma. But a later study, more directly relevant to the issue of violent behavior, could not predict group membership of indicted murderers on the basis of WAIS subtest scores (Deiker, 1973).…”