The adaptation and norming of selected psychometric tests for 12- to 15- year-old urbanized Western Cape adolescents

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The practice of psychometric testing of cognitive functioning in South Africa is hampered bythe paucity of normative data that adequately characterize our ethnically, linguistically,socioeconomically, and educationally diverse population. The general aim of this study was toascertain whether cognitive tests developed in settings outside of the Western Cape urbanizedarea have valid application for clinical and research purposes in that area. Strategies used toachieve that aim included: 1) translation, adaptation, and subsequent administration of acompendium of tests in a sample of typically developing, coloured and white, 12- to 15-yearold,Afrikaans- and English-speaking adolescents; 2) evaluation of the relative impact ofsociodemographic factors (age, sex, language, quality of education, and race) on testperformance and the consequent derivation of appropriately stratified normative data; and 3)evaluation of the cross-cultural utility of the normative data by comparing data collected fromthe study sample to norms derived from other populations. Results indicated that sex andlanguage of testing impacted minimally on cognitive functioning. In contrast, the pervasive anddeleterious impact of disadvantaged quality of education on cognitive performance withintypically developing adolescents was clearly demonstrated. For participants with advantagedquality of education, coloured race was associated with lower performance on measures ofintelligence, semantic fluency, and one measure of attention. Furthermore, the results providedevidence of age-related increments in cognitive performance, particularly after the age of 12.For cognitive measures that were significantly affected by language, race, and quality ofeducation, trends of a downward continuum of performance were demonstrated, from highest tolowest, as follows: 1) English-white-advantaged; 2) Afrikaans-white-advantaged; 3) Englishcoloured-advantaged; 4) English-coloured-disadvantaged; 5) Afrikaans-coloured-advantaged;and 6) Afrikaans-coloured-disadvantaged. Cross-cultural comparisons of norms showed that forsome tests, norms derived from other populations were suitable for use in the study sample. Forother tests, however, results showed that for certain subgroups, it was essential to use thestratified norms derived from the study in order to prevent misdiagnoses.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University