WAIS factor pattern for neuropsychiatric inpatients.

The current study examines the factor pattern of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale for a sample of 151 neuropsychiatric inpatients (97 men, 54 women). As expected, these patients performed less well on all 11 of the subtests and ranged from .60 to 1.54 SD below normative standards. These patients were neither more variable nor were the intercorrelations among the subtests lower than those of the normative group. As in previous research, maximum likelihood factor analyses revealed the presence of a Verbal Comprehension dimension and a Perceptual Organization dimension, factors that were moderately correlated (.60). The stability of a two-factor solution for the WAIS in this population and its implications for the inclusion of the WAIS as a component of a neuropsychological assessment paradigm are discussed.