Abstract
A hierarchical factor solution (Wherry & Wherry, Note 1) was obtained on WISC-R subtest intercorrelations for 150 black children and adolescents referred to a community agency for psychological assessment. Factorization was controlled by specifying the extraction of two primary factors and allowing for one higher-order factor. The factors thus obtained not only provided a parsimonious account of the common variance in the WISC-R subtests, but also indicated an ability arrangement congruent with Vernon’s (1950) structural paradigm. The ability hierarchy included a relatively weak general g factor defined by a pattern of positive loadings from all WISC-R subtests. At the primary level, there was almost complete bifurcation between the verbal and performance subtests, with the former defining a verbal-educational (v:ed) factor and the latter defining a spatial-perceptual (k:m) factor. These findings suggest that the basic ability dimensions are the same for referred black children as they are for referred whites and normals in the standardization sample.
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Vance, H.B., Wallbrown, F.H. The Structure of Intelligence for Black Children: A Hierarchical Approach. Psychol Rec 28, 31–39 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394507
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394507