Affective Reactions and Psychosocial Functioning in the Course of Psycho-Educational Assessment

Every day, children throughout the United States are given psychological evaluations for many different clinical and psycho-educational purposes. Very little research has attempted to investigate children's responses to the experience of having intellectual and achievement tests administered. The goal of the current research was to explore the effect a psycho-educational evaluation has on children in areas of self-concept and anxiety. Dependent variables consisted of pre- and post-test measures of anxiety and self-concept. A total of 75 children in the 4th 5th and 6th grades were recruited after referral for evaluation and possible placement in the Talented and Gifted Program or Special Education. This study employed Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-tests, multiple regression analysis, and correlational analysis. Findings included initial evidence that children endorsed decreased anxiety after psycho-educational assessments rather than increased anxiety, suggesting that fear of unknown situations may be more anxiety provoking than the actual situation itself, potentially beneficial findings for psychology and psychometric professionals who evaluate children daily. Students endorsement of academic self-concept significantly predicted anxiety after a psycho-educational evaluation, indicating that students who feel capable in academic areas may endorse less anxiety after an evaluation than students who do not feel academically capable. Finally, negative verbal interaction with parents significantly predicted lower general self-concept scores, providing evidence that the manner in which parents verbally relate to their children may have significant impact for the mental health of children.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

1999

Author dc:creator

• Buenrostro, Martha

Contributors dc:contributor

• Silverthorn, Persephanie
• Sewell, Kenneth W.
• Boyle, Thomas
• Hardy, Clifford A.

• Psychological tests for children.
• Achievement tests.
• Gifted children -- Psychology.
• Anxiety in children.
• Self-perception in children.
• psychological evaluation
• achievement tests
• gifted and talented
• special education

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Buenrostro, Martha
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 45155944
untcat: b2231784
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2210/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc2210

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc2210