title: Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test in adolescents: relationship between visual-motor development and the Tanner Stages.
abstract: Visual-motor skill is fundamental to human development and is an important component of psychological evaluations. The goal of the present study was to determine whether there is a correlation between visual-motor development, as measured by the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (Bender test), and sexual maturity in adolescents, based on the Tanner Stages in Adolescents. 134 adolescents from 10 to 15 years of age participated in the study. The Bender test and the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test were employed. The measures were administered individually and information on sexual maturity and the presence of developmental disorders was collected from medical charts. The results of the Bender test were not affected by gender, age, schooling, or changes stemming from puberty, but were significantly affected by having repeated a school year and by developmental disorders. An association was found with Raven's scores. The Bender test proved sensitive to developmental disorders in adolescence. No association was found between visual-motor development and sexual maturity in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lívia de Freitas
authors.initials: Lde F
authors.lastname: Keppeke
authors.affiliation: Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isa de Pádua
authors.initials: Ide P
authors.lastname: Cintra
authors.affiliation: Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Teresa Helena
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Schoen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001538:Bender-Gestalt Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic