Factor structure of the WPPSI in mental health clinic settings

Factor analyzed the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) scores of children (N = 181) seen at several outpatient mental health clinics. A two-factor solution that approximated Wechsler's grouping into Verbal and Performance sections was extracted. The Arithmetic subtest, however, loaded strongly onto both factors. The results suggest that the structure of intelligence for emotionally disturbed children is similar to that for normal children. The results also suggest that WPPSI profile analysis that uses subtest scores may be invalid in clinical settings because the specific variance of most subtests was low and because error variance exceeded specific subtest variance for half of the subtests. Further research is needed to clarify the utility of the WPPSI in outpatient clinical settings.