Relationships between scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised.

Abstract

The importance of individual intellectual assessment for academic placement requires valid instrumentation. One method of ensuring a valid instrument is to revise an intelligence test. This step was performed to produce the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) in 1989. The present study was designed to establish concurrent criterion-related validity of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) by comparing it with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVTR). Fifty-one children (28 boys and 23 girls) ranging in age from 3 years to 7 years were tested with both instruments. The WPPSI-R yielded four scores (Vocabulary Subtest, Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ) while the PPVT-R produced one (Standard Score Equivalent). The mean scores obtained in this study were above the normative samples for both tests. Correlation coefficients between the PPVT-R and WPPSI-R scores were low. WPPSI-R Verbal IQ the PPVT-R and WPPSI-R scores were low. WPPSI-R Verbal IQ and PPVT-R SSE (r = .36) and WPPSI-R Full Scale IQ and PPVTR SSE (r = .34) were the only significant correlations (2<.01). A difference exists for males between the WPPSI-R Performance IQ and PPVT-R Standard Score Equivalent. Some extraneous variables are discussed as possible explanations for the diminished correlations. Further research is needed to confirm or refute these conclusions.