Children's speech as a source of data toward the measurement of psychological states

Abstract

A measurement of psychological states, based on the objective content analysis of small samples of speech, has undergone thorough reliability and constructvalidation studies for individuals in the age range 17-70. The present report is a first step in the extension of this method to children ages 6-16. It has involved a descriptive analysis of the frequency of use of various verbal content categories of 109 schoolchildren, roughly stratified for grade. Percentile scores have been obtained for such content analysis scales as anxiety, hostility outward, hostility inward, ambivalent hostility, social alienation-personal disorganization, cognitive impairment, human relations, hope, and achievement strivings. Comparisons are made between these children's scores on such measures and similar scores obtained from adults. Sex differences and developmental trends are examined.

Content scaling of affect in adolescent speech samples

“…While it is possible that the differences found are due to some extent to a secular trend, the results bear out our assumption that new data are needed for studies utilizing adolescents. The only other published data on verbal sample affect scores on nonpatient samples is that of Gottschalk (1976) on Laguna Beach School District children. These latter data were obtained with somewhat modified instruc.…”

“…In all but one or two studies the subjects were 17 years of age or older. More recently, Gottschalk (1976) published normative data for affect scores on school children, kindergarten through twelfth grade. Unfortunately, these date were not all obtained utilizing standardized verbal instructions.…”

Profiles of children's psychological states derived from the Gottschalk-Gleser content analysis of speech

“…Recent investigations of Gottschalk and his coworkers (Gottschalk, 1976a(Gottschalk, , 1976bUliana, 1978) have obtained children's normative scores from verbal samples gathered over a four-year period. A sample of 109 White children, 41 boys and 68 girls, stratified from the first through the twelfth grades, was drawn from a primarily middle class population living in Laguna Beach, Orange County, California.…”

“…A sample of 109 White children, 41 boys and 68 girls, stratified from the first through the twelfth grades, was drawn from a primarily middle class population living in Laguna Beach, Orange County, California. These children ranged in age from 6-16 and in IQ levels from average to above average (Gottschalk, 1976a(Gottschalk, , 1976b. Another sample of 288 Black children, 144 boys and 144 girls, also stratified from the first through twelfth grades, was drawn from a lower to middle class population living in Santa Ana, Orange County, California.…”

Recent Advances in the Content Analysis of Speech and the Application of this Measurement Approach to Psychosomatic Research

“…This content analysis procedure has been applied to children (Gottschalk, , 1976Uliana, 1976); norms have been obtained from a sample of white and black children, ages 5-16 years, and validation studies are in progress. New applications have been reported to psychophysiological (Bell et al, 1971;Gottlieb et al, 1967;Karacan, 1966;Gottschalk, , 1976Gottschalk andGleser, 1969;Gottschalk et al, 1961Ivey andBardwick, 1968;Silbergeld et a!., 1971) and psychobiochemical research (Gottschalk, 1972;Gottschalk etal., 1965Gottschalk etal., , 1966Gottschalk etal., , 1969Silber geld et al, 1975;Stone et al, 1969), ncuropsychopharmacological research {Elliott et al, 1974Gottschalk and Gleser, \969;Gottschalk et al, 1960), psychotherapy research {Gottschalk, 1974Gottschalk and Auerbach, 1966;Gotlschalk et al, 1967Gotlschalk et al, , 1969Gotlschalk et al, , 1973Lewis, 1971;Luborsky et al, 1975;Parley et al, 1971;Witkin et a!., 1968), and psychokinesic research {Freedman et Gottschalk and Frank, 1967;Gottschalk and Uliana, 1976a, b). The likely possibility of automated computerized scoring using this content analysis methods is indi cated {Gottschalk et al, 1975).…”