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The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation Committee: / Approved by Professor Johannes Rojahn, Adviser Professor Jack Naglieri A d v iser ' Professor M ichael Aman Psychology Program UMI Number: 9911217 UMI Microform 9911217 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48103 Copyright by T racy L. K roeger 1998 ABSTRACT The relationship betw een the ability to recognize facially-expressed emotion and more global underlying cognitive abilities was investigated for adults with mild and m oderate mental retardation through a series of two studies. The initial study calculated the psychometric properties of the Penn Facial Discrimination Task. Given to 299 undergraduate Psychology 100 students, the two 173-item emotion and age tasks of the PFDT were evaluated according to item difficulty, test-retest reliability, item-total correlation and composite reliability correlation. The aforementioned analyses were completed for both tasks at the total test and the subtests levels. For the emotion task, 'neutral' items were significantly more difficult to identify and had lower test-retest reliability than 'happy* and 'sad' items. Compared to the 'happy* and 'sad' items, for which there were restricted response ranges, the 'neutral' items had higher item-total and composite reliability correlations. For the age task, both 'young' and 'm iddle-aged' items were significantly more difficult to identify and had lower test-retest reliability relative to the 'old' items. 'Young' and 'm iddle-aged' items also had higher item-total and composite reliability correlations com pared to the 'old' items, which had a much narrower response range. Items for both the emotion and the age tasks were selected for retention in a modified version of the PFDT based upon item difficulty and test-retest reliability scores. Those items with the highest scores were included in the final version, referred to as the FDT-MR. The final emotion task was comprised of 5 sam ple items and 35 test items, while the final age task was comprised of 5 sam ple items and 24 test items. The psychometric properties of this new version were evaluated using the sam e statistical methods identified for the PFDT, with the addition of internal consistency. The profiles previously described for the PFDT emotion and age tasks were generally replicated for the emotion and age tasks of the FDT-MR. A subsequent second study involved the administration of both the FDT-MR and the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) to 50 adults with mild to moderate m ental retardation. Results of this study Indicated that of the four scales of the CAS, planning, attention, simultaneous and successive processing, performance on the planning scale was significantly lower than performance on both the simultaneous and successive processing scales. In addition, according to hierarchical multiple regression analyses, overall performance on both the FDT-MR emotion and age tasks was significantly related only to performance on the successive processing scale of the CAS. ui Dedicated to my parents IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the members of m y dissertation committee: Dr. Johannes Rojahn. Dr. Jack Naglieri and Dr. Michael Aman. Their generous support, encouragement and guidance is sincerely appreciated. I am particularly grateful to my adviser. Dr. Johannes Rojahn for the m any years of Invaluable assistance and inspiration he has provided. Special thanks to my family and to Gus for their unconditional love and support throughout this project. Special thanks as well to Dr. Carmine Nardis for his patience, wisdom and faith in me. Very special thanks to John for being a true best friend. VTTA Name: Tracy L. Kroeger SSN: 139-68-8617 Doctoral student. DOB: A u g u st 27, 1966 P sy ch o lo g y Permanent Address: 1033 Firth Ave. W orthington, OH 43085 (614) 846-1746 Local Address: 4792 Archdale Ln,, Apt. A Columbus, OH 43214 (614)457-0769 Business Addresses: 1960 W. Broad St. U nitK -4 Columbus, Ohio 43223 (614) 752-0333; ext. 5125 6502 E. M ain St. Reynoldsburg, OH 43214 (614) 755-4648 E d u ca tio n Master of Arts, M.A. in Psychology 1993 The Ohio State University; Columbus, OH 43210 Bachelor of Arts, B.A. in Zoology 1988 Miami University; Oxford, OH 45056 Current Employment Psychology Assistant 7/1995 thru present The Twin Valley Psychiatric System, Columbus Campus 1960 W. B road St. Columbus, Ohio 43223 VI Psychology Assistant 10/1997 thni present Behavioral Systems 6502 E. M a in St. Reynoldsburg. Oh 43068 Previous Educational Experience Psychology Assistant 7/1994 to 9/97 The Overbrook Clinic 4100 N. ffigh Street. Suite 100 Columbus. OH 43214 Teaching Associate. Introductory Psychology 1/92 to 6/95 Department of Psychology. The Ohio State University Columbus. OH 432100 Psychology Intern. Forensics 7/94 to 7/95 Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital 1960 West Broad Street Columbus. OH 43223 Psychology Coordinator/Supervisor 2/94 to 9/94 Behavior Pediatrics/Interdisciplinary Team Clinics The Nisonger Center-UAP The Ohio State University Columbus. OH 43210 Psychology Trainee 6/91 to 6/95 Interdisciplinary Team Clinic The Nisonger Center-UAP 1581 Dodd Drive Columbus. OH 43210 Psychology Trainee 4/91 to 6/94 Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital 1960 West Broad Street Columbus. OH 43223 Psychology Trainee 4/91 to 8/91 Play Therapy The Nisonger Center-UAP 1581 Dodd Drive Columbus. OH 43210 vu Psychology Trainee 4/90 to 6/95 Behavior Pediatrics Clinic The Nisonger Center-UAP 1581 Dodd Drive Columbus, OH 43210 The Heinzerling Foundation 6/90 to 9/90 Direct Care Assistant 1800 Heinzerling Drive Columbus, OH 43223 PUBLICATIONS Rojahn, J., Kroeger, T.L., & McHwain, D.C. (1994). Performance on the Penn Facial Discrimination Task by adults with mental retardation. Am erican Journal on M ental Retardation, 99, 316-319. Rojahn, J., Hammer, D., & Kroeger, T.L. (1997). Assessment and treatm ent of stereotyped behavior. In E. Cipani & N.N. Singh (Eds.), Practical approaches to the treatm ent of severe behavior disorder. Sycamore, EL; S ycam ore. Rojahn, J., Kroeger, T.L., & McElwain, D.C. (1995). Psychometric properties and preliminary norms of the Penn Facial Discrimination Task in adults with m ental retardation. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities. 7(4), 285-301. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Psychology Rabold, D.E., Kroeger, T.L., McElwain, D., Schneider, R., & Rojahn, J. (1994, June). Deficits in facially expressed emotion recognition in m ental retardation. Presented in the Symposium entitled "Research on Emotion in Mental Retardation" (Chair: J. Rojahn), held at the 118th Annual Conference of the American Association on M ental Retardation, Boston, MA. Rojahn, J., Kroeger, T.L., McElwain, D.C., 8c Lederer, M. (1994, June). The Penn Facial Discriritination Task for m ental retardation: norms and psychometric properties. Poster session presented at the 118th Annual Conference of the American Association on M ental Retardation, Boston, MA. vni Rojahn. J., Rabold, D.E., Kroeger, T., & Schneider, F. (1994, August). Facial Emotion Recognition in Mental Retardation. American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Invited address Division 33, Los Angeles, CA. Kroeger, T.L. (1997, June). Peers Unlimited and its Incorporation into the COPH Active Treatment Program. Poster session presented at the Conference entitled "Stepping Ahead... Practical Approaches in Mental Health Care", Columbus, OH. IX TABLE OF CONTENTS P