A-047 Examining the relationship between Learning Diagnoses and Social Skills Deficit subscales within the Personality Inventory for Children, Second Edition

Objective The present study examined the relationship between the Social Skills Deficit (SSD) subscales obtained on the Personality Inventory for Children, second edition (PIC-2), and diagnoses of three major Learning Disorders (LD) of Math, Reading, and Writing. Method Participants in the present study consisted of 523 children from a mixed clinical sample who were between the ages of 3 to 17 years (M = 9.897, SD = 3.130). Participants were referred to a south Florida neuropsychology community assessment center and completed a full neuropsychological battery. Males composed 64% of the sample. Measures included SSD subscales, limited peer status and conflict with peers, within the PIC-2. Results To evaluate the relationship between scores on SSD subscales from the PIC-2 on three LD diagnoses, a Pearson Correlation with 2-tailed significance was used. Limited peer status was significantly correlated with a LD of Reading (r = −.160, p = .001) and Writing (r = −.160, p = .001). Additionally, conflict with peers was significant correlated with a LD of Reading (r = −.139, p = .001) and Writing (r = −.125, p = .004). There were no SSD subscales that were significantly correlated with a diagnosis of LD of Math. Conclusion From these results, the SSD subscale had the strongest correlation with diagnosis of a LD of Reading followed by LD of Writing. This study explicates the issue of reduced language-based skills and its impact on social skills. Due to the association between reading and writing and social skills, academic intervention should also include social skills training to increased peer interactions and reduce peer conflict.

Personality traits and the expression area of synthetic house-tree-person drawings in early adolescent Japanese

This study surveyed the expression areas of the Synthetic House-Tree-Person drawing test (S-HTP test, Mikami, 1995) for Japanese early adolescents. The S-HTP test is a projective method in which subjects are asked to draw a house, tree, and person. The expression area is defined as the area of each drawn item, such as the house, tree or person. The participants consisted of 186 Japanese junior high school students and their S-HTP drawings were analyzed using path analysis. The relationships between the expression areas of each item in the test and the students’ personality traits were examined. The personality traits were measured using the Five-Factor Personality Inventory for Children (FFPC, Soga, 1999). The results show that personality traits of high conscientiousness were associated with larger houses (p < .10) and trees (p < .10). In addition, higher scores on openness to experience (p < .01) and on agreeableness (p < .05) correlate with bigger person figures as their size, whereas higher scores on neuroticism correlate with smaller figures as their size (p < .01). The findings also indicate that the total fitness of the model was sufficient (CFI = .984, RMSEA = .021). These findings may aid the development of useful criteria for future psychological assessments.

Australian Validation of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC)

The Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC) is a developmentally appropriate parent-report measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM) that has been validated in several European languages but only recently in English. The English translation of the HiPIC was evaluated in an Australian context. Parent-rated HiPIC scores were obtained for 202 children (aged 5–14 years) via an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis indicated five factors that appeared reasonably congruent with the original Flemish HiPIC structure, though with some apparent differences particularly in regard to the Extraversion and Benevolence facets. A Procrustes targeted rotation was used to evaluate the congruence with the original Flemish structure. This indicated encouragingly high congruences for the overall model (.97), as well as high facet and factor congruence (.92–.99). These findings can be taken to reflect the robust nature of the HiPIC model, validating the instrument and more specifically confirming its applicability for use in practice and research investigating children's development and wellbeing in Australia.