Peabody Individual Achievement Test: Concurrent Validity with Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

The present study examined the concurrent validity of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test with the Wide Range Achievement Test and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children in a juvenile delinquent population. The three tests were administered to 18 male delinquents between the ages of 12–4 and 15–11. Intercorrelations between subtests of the first two tests were significant, as was the Peabody Achievement Total Test with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Full Scale IQ. However, the two achievement measures agreed in terms of gross intellectual classification less than 56% of the time on all subtests. As the Peabody Achievement subtest, Mathematics, vs Wide Range subtest, Arithmetic, yielded significantly different achievement levels the two were not measuring comparable achievement levels. Substitution of one for the other is questionable. Suggestions were made for research concerning concurrent validity employing the present methodology.