Discriminant Analysis of Clinical Outpatients and Public School Children by TEMAS: A Thematic Apperception Test for Hispanics and Blacks

Abstract

This study investigated the utility of the minority version of the Tell Me a Story (TEMAS) test, a thematic apperception technique for minorities and nonminorities, by discriminating public school and clinical Hispanic and Black children. The test is composed of 23 stimuli, depicting minority characters interacting in urban settings, and is scored for nine personality functions (e.g., aggression and anxiety). The subjects were 100 outpatients at psychiatric centers and 373 public school students, all from low socioeconomic (SES), inner city families. All subjects were tested individually by examiners of the same ethnicity. Results indicated that TEMAS profiles significantly, p less than .001, discriminated the two groups and explained 21% of the variance independent of ethnicity, age, and SES. Classification accuracy, based on the discriminant function, was 89%. The TEMAS profiles interacted with ethnicity; better discrimination was evident for Hispanics than Blacks. Results are discussed in terms of the need to develop and validate culturally sensitive personality tests for ethnic minorities.

State of the Science on Psychosocial Interventions for Ethnic Minorities

“…CUENTO THERAPY-Studies have been conducted with poor New York City Latino children (Costantino et al 1986) and adolescents (Constantino et al 1988, Malgady et al 1990) to examine the impact of using cuentos, or Puerto Rican folk tales or biographies, to improve self-concept of children at risk for problems. In the first study, 210 children (primarily Puerto Ricans) in kindergarten through grade 3 were identified by teacher ratings as in the bottom half of the class in adaptive behavior.…”

Projecting the Voices of Mexican-Origin Children

“…We had Card 1 redrawn to depict a racially ambiguous figure. Such identification enhances verbal fluency and stimulates the presentation of more elaborate narratives (Constantino, Malgady, Rogler, & Tsui, 1988). The coding scheme for the narratives was developed inductively and restructured based on newly emerging themes as the analysis proceeded.…”

Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century.

“…It is also important to recognize that various factors (e.g., social-cultural, contextual-structural, and clinical-procedural) contribute to an underutilization of mental health services among immigrant populations. Much of what is known about the use of evidence-based treatments with immigrants has been extrapolated from research on ethnic minorities (Miranda et al, 2005), and only a few studies have examined the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments with immigrant populations (Beehler, Birman, & Campbell, 2011; Constantino, Malgady, & Rogler, 1988; Duarté-Vélez, Bernal, & Bonilla, 2010; Kataoka et al, 2003; Santisteban & Mena, 2009).…”