Psychological testing for child and adolescent psychiatrists: a review of the past 10 years

Abstract

Objective: To provide a review of psychological tests often used with children and adolescents.

Method: A description of how psychological tests are used and how to interpret various types of scores is provided. Subsequently, psychological tests used to assess intelligence, academic achievement, neuropsychological functions, and personality are reviewed.

Results: There are numerous well-normed, reliable, and valid instruments that are available for assessing intellectual and academic functioning in children and adolescents. Neuropsychological tests, designed to assess objectively a wide range of cognitive functions, are available and extremely useful for designing treatment plans for patients with cognitive difficulties. Despite their popularity, most projective tests have relatively weak psychometric data supporting their reliability and/or validity.

Conclusions: Psychological testing provides objective measures of behavior that are of considerable utility for evaluating children and adolescents. However, psychological test data, in isolation, will rarely be adequate for providing a DSM diagnosis, and test scores are best interpreted in the context of other clinical data. Psychological test data can be very useful for developing a comprehensive treatment plan that addresses the patient's cognitive and emotional needs.