Describing Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Processes in Adolescents with and without Psychopathic Traits: Examining Rorschach Variables

The current study examined the effectiveness of select Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) variables in detecting individual differences among youth diagnosed with Conduct Disorder (CD) who were either high or low on psychopathic traits. Twenty-nine male adolescents with CD in an alternative education school setting were placed into high or low psychopathy groups based on their Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL: YV) scores. Significant differences were found for WSum6, a RIM variable that measures cognitive ideation. However, both CD groups gave very few answers that yielded rich RIM protocols. That is, answers tended to be simple and similar, making inferential statistics uninterpretable. Consequently, students with PCL: YV scores ≥ 30 were examined to determine if there were any patterns in RIM scores. Overall descriptive data of the entire sample (N = 63) were also examined to provide a description of the types of students that may be found in similar settings. Implications for treatment according to emotional, social, and cognitive functioning, and as related to the practice of school psychologists, are also provided.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Talkington, Vanessa Rae

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tammy Hughes
• Jeffrey Miller
• Carol Parke

• adolescents
• Conduct Disorder
• PCL: YV
• psychopathy
• Rorschach
• schools

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1267

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2283