An actuarial and confirmatory investigation of the interpersonal and self-perception clusters of the Rorschach Comprehensive System

This study investigated the extent to which Interpersonal and Self-Perception cluster variables of Exner's Comprehensive System were related to an extratest data set which included cognitive, personality, achievement, and rating scales (patient and therapist), chart review, and diagnostic information.; Data were collected from 1,000 inpatient adolescents hospitalized at Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, New York within the last two years. Forty-eight percent of the participants were males and fifty-two percent were females. The mean age was approximately 14.8 years (SD = 1.2). The mean grade in school at admission was 9.0 (SD = 1.37). Sixty-four percent of the sample was white, sixteen percent were African American, sixteen percent were Hispanic, and almost four percent (3.6) came from a variety of other ethnic backgrounds.; Results of confirmatory analyses indicated that support for Exner's hypotheses with this adolescent sample was mixed. Results of exploratory analyses provided more support for Exner's hypotheses with this adolescent sample, as many significant relationships were found between Interpersonal and Self-Perception cluster variables and extratest data examined in this study. Results of both confirmatory analyses provided support for Exner's predictions that Morbid Content Responses are associated with hopelessness and depression. The results of this study also suggest that the Comprehensive System can generally be reliably scored by trained raters.; Based upon the results of the confirmatory analyses in this study, the generalization of Exner's research with adults to an adolescent population, and the clinical utility of the Interpersonal and Self-Perception cluster variables of the Comprehensive System with an inpatient, adolescent population is questionable. However, additional investigations based upon the results of exploratory analyses may provide additional information concerning the use of Rorschach with adolescents.