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Dissertation
Test-retest reliability of Bricklin Perceptual Scales
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law
May 1992
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00009301
Abstract
Children in custody disputes are frequently assessed by mental health professionals in an attempt to determine which of two competent parents is best suited to be the child's primary caretaker. Intellectual and projective psychological tests are frequently administered as part of this process. While such tests may yield clinically useful information, they were not designed for use in custody evaluations, the goal of which is to determine which of two competing parents is best able to meet the unique need of a particular child. One test, the Bricklin Perceptual Scales, has been specifically developed for this purpose. The instrument consists of 64 questions that require the child to non-verbally rate parents with respect to various traits and how they might behave in certain hypothetical situations. Although the scale is currently in wide use, very little data have been reported concerning its reliability and validity. It is possible that the test measures transitory, situational phenomena and thus, the parent that "wins" in terms of the child's ratings, could quickly change. The present study addressed the issue of reliability. A test-retest design was used with 20 adolescent psychiatric inpatients with retesting occurring seven days after the initial administration. Pearson correlations were run to determine the stability of individual test items, overall scores and for summed scores for groups of questions which purportedly measure the same general parenting traits such as "Supportiveness" and "Follow-Up Consistency". The results generally support the hypothesis that the measure was reliable over a one week period. While certain items and one of the four categories of items did not reach significance, the reliability of the scores used by clinicians in formulating recommendations are significant at p <.001. In spite of this high degree of stability, a change in the parent chosen by the scale occurred in four of 20 cases. This study must be considered a pilot, given the very limited subject pool and the fact that random sampling was not possible. These results must be replicated by larger, better controlled studies before definitive conclusions can be drawn. However, the data do provide some useful preliminary information concerning the stability of this measure over time. These findings do not necessarily undermine the clinical utility of the measure. However, in situations where the parents are close, in terms of the number of items obtained, the results should be interpreted with caution and statements made based on the results should be qualified accordingly.
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Details
- Title
- Test-retest reliability of Bricklin Perceptual Scales
- Creators
- Eric B. Speth
- Contributors
- Louisa Seraydarian (Advisor) - Drexel University, Hahnemann University (1982-1993)
- Awarding Institution
- Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- vii, 176 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Hahnemann University (1982-1993); Mental Health (Technology/Sciences) [Historical]; School of Health Sciences and Humanities (1988-1993); Psychology [Historical]
- Other Identifier
- 991021888765704721