Validation study of the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) in an adolescents' forensic sample

Abstract

The Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) is a projective method developed by McArthur and Roberts (1982) to assess children and adolescents' behavioural, social and emotional functioning, concerns, conflicts and emotional management strategies through their perceptions of common interpersonal situations of everyday life. The aim of the present study is to contribute to the validation of the RATC in a forensic sample (N = 75) [constituted by a group of juvenile delinquents detained in educational centres (n = 40, 12–17 years old, 1–10 years of schooling) and a group of maltreated adolescents integrated in residential care (n = 35, 11–16 years old, 5–10 years of schooling)], studying its psychometric properties, such as reliability and criterion validity (convergent and discriminant validity), considering the results obtained in other instruments as external validation criteria: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Third Edition (WISC-III) and Youth Self-Report (YSR). It also aims to search for some indicators based on means and standard deviations to interpret the scores obtained in RATC for these forensic contexts, through the comparisons within forensic groups and the comparisons of the forensic groups with a community sample. The RATC showed minimally acceptable reliability and adequate validity indices, considering that this instrument is a projective method. This limitation is compensated by the clinical value of the data obtained from the projection of individuals' thoughts, concerns, conflicts and problem-solving styles, which are useful to assess their emotional and behavioural characteristics and psychological functioning. The results also show statistically significant differences between the two forensic groups on RATC scales, as well as between them and the community sample, as expected, underlining their different characteristics.