Comparative validity of the verbal IQ as a short form of the WAIS

Wildman and Wildman's (1977) conclusion concerning the effectiveness of the Verbal IQ as a Short Form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) was investigated further using the three Resnick and Entin criteria for validation. Influence of age and IQ range was controlled. In addition, the Verbal IQ was compared statistically with another six-subtest short form. The WAIS protocols of 100 psychiatric inpatients provided the basic data. Only for ages 18 to 44 and the IQ range of 90 and above were both short forms found to satisfy all three of the validity criteria. The Verbal IQ significantly overestimated the Full Scale IQ in the total sample, while the comparison short form significantly underestimated it. Correlations for both short forms with the standard WAIS were high. The Verbal IQ correctly classified 73% of the Ss in the Wechsler intelligence levels compared to 81% for the comparison WAIS abbreviation. The overall performance of the two forms was not significantly different.