Ten-Year Stability of Verbal and Nonverbal IQ Scores

Abstract

Intelligence tests continue to be the most widely used measures of cognitive aptitudes. Performance on such measures is usually expressed as an IQ score. Popular opinion to the contrary, relatively little is known about the long term measuring of IQ scores from group verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests, especially the latter. This study shows that, below ten years of age, stability in IQ scores from group verbal tests is considerably below that for the Stanford-Binet. Non-verbal IQ scores were found to have substantially less stability than Verbal IQs.

Personality matters

“…In particular, seven-year test-retest stability estimates (the correlation between the same measures measured seven years apart) plateau at r=0.74 for personality traits, about the same level of stability as for IQ. However, measured personality traits did not reach this level of stability until at least the age of 50 (see Figure 5), whereas for IQ the plateau is reached by the age of six to eight (Hopkins and Bracht, 1975). Furthermore, the susceptibility to change over a lifetime is not the same for all personality traits.…”

The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits

“…They show that rank-order stability estimates for personality plateau far from unity, at r = .74, about the same level as terminal stability estimates for IQ. However, personality does not reach this plateau until at least age 50; whereas IQ reaches this plateau by age six or eight (Schuerger and Witt 1989;Hopkins and Bracht 1975). Figure 5b shows rank order stability of IQ over broad age ranges.…”

“…Note: Figure reproduced from Hopkins and Bracht (1975), and reflects ten-year, test-retest correlations over ten-year intervals. Grade level, not age, is on the x-axis.…”

Social and emotional skills for student success and well-being

“…These are worrisome trends since social connections are one of the most critical factors for a person's health and overall well-being. Connectedness and social support are related with a lower risk for cancer recurrence, lower blood pressure, increased heart attack survival rates, better immune system, prolonged lives and chances for longevity, and better psychological well-being (Pressman et al, 2005 [133] ; Uchino, Cacioppo and Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996 [134] ; Brown et al, 2003 [135] ; Holt-Lunstad, Smith and Layton, 2010 [136] ; Stansfeld, 2006 [137] ). Greater social cohesion is associated with increased safety in low-income neighbourhoods, more physical activity and lower risk for obesity among children (De Jesus et al, 2010 [138] ; Franzini et al, 2009 [139] ).…”