Brief report: Cross-cultural replication of an anomalous psychometric pattern in children with type 1 diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
To replicate an anomalous psychometric profile previously documented in children with Type 1 diabetes living in the mainland United States with a cross-cultural sample selected from Puerto Rico.


METHODS
Ninety-three Spanish-speaking children (M age = 12.8 years) with Type 1 diabetes living in Puerto Rico were administered the Puerto Rican version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The factor structure of the Puerto Rican sample's WISC-R was then compared to that of a United States sample (n = 95) in which an anomalous factor structure in children with diabetes was first documented.


RESULTS
As in the United States sample, a four-factor IQ structure was obtained. Instead of the traditional three-factor structure of the WISC-R, the Perceptual Organization factor split into a Spatial Conceptual factor and an anomalous Visual Discrimination factor.


CONCLUSIONS
Results support previous findings and suggest anomalies in the psychometric profiles of children with Type 1 diabetes. Cross-cultural replication of the anomalous IQ factor structure, and atypical visual discrimination, suggests that differences are illness-related, and consideration may therefore be warranted when administering some subtests of the Wechsler scales to children with Type 1 diabetes.
Streisand
Randi
R
Children's National Medical Center, Department of Psychology, Washington, DC 20010, USA. rstreis@cnmc.org
Cant
M Catherine
MC
Chen
Ru San
RS
Gonzalez de Pijem
Lilliam
L
Holmes
Clarissa S
CS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology