WISC-R Verbal Performance IQ discrepancies among quay-classified adolescent male delinquents.

Wechsler Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancies have been associated with the broad classification of delinquency, but not with a specific criterion of acting out or psychopathic adjustment. Accordingly, this study examined the hypothesis that the WISC- R Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancy would be larger or more frequent for persons classified as exhibiting a psychopathic delinquent adjustment than for persons classified as either neurotic or subculturally delinquent. Within-subject differences on intellectual measures were obtained for both the psychopathic and subcultural, but not the neurotic, delinquent adjustment classification. This result indicated consistency of intellectual asymmetry across behaviorally diverse delinquent subgroups. No between-group differences were obtained. The results were interpreted as affirming a reliable intraindividual intellectual asymmetry which provides a foundation to model and test hypotheses relating intellectual processes and delinquent behavior.