Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Parkland Outpatient Psychiatry, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2023 Oct 20;38(7):1106-1114. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acad024.
The Reliable Digit Span (RDS) is an embedded measure used to assess performance validity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the RDS can be used with Spanish speakers from Latin America.
The Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV was administered to 66 Spanish-speaking patients, 66 English-speaking patients, and 30 Spanish-speaking normal controls. The Spanish-speaking patients had a mean age of 65.82 (standard deviation [SD] = 12.44) and mean education of 6.62 years (SD = 4.91), whereas the controls had a mean age of 48.27 (SD = 10.97) and mean education of 8.33 (SD = 3.04). The English-speaking patients had a mean age of 56.44 (SD = 13.53) and mean education of 12.14 (SD = 2.37).
The average RDS among the Spanish-speaking patients was 5.36 (SD = 1.27) and the average RDS among the controls was 5.90 (SD = 1.06). The mean RDS of the English-speaking patients was 7.83 (SD = 1.72). The modal RDS among Spanish-speaking patients was 5. The modal RDS among Spanish-speaking controls was also 5, though the distribution was bimodal in nature with nearly as many 7 s as 5 s. The modal RDS among the English-speaking patients was 7. Among patients with ≥9 years of education and controlling for age, there remained a significant difference between both language patient groups on the RDS (F(1, 79) = 30.85, p < .0001).
These data suggest that the RDS may not be a valuable measure in assessing performance validity among monolingual Spanish speakers from Latin America, particularly among those with low levels of education.
可靠数字跨度（RDS）是一种嵌入式测量方法，用于评估表现效度。本研究旨在确定 RDS 是否可用于来自拉丁美洲的讲西班牙语者。
对 66 名讲西班牙语的患者、66 名讲英语的患者和 30 名讲西班牙语的正常对照者进行了韦氏成人智力量表-IV 的数字跨度分测验。西班牙语患者的平均年龄为 65.82（标准差[SD]=12.44），平均受教育年限为 6.62 年（SD=4.91），而对照组的平均年龄为 48.27（SD=10.97），平均受教育年限为 8.33（SD=3.04）。讲英语的患者的平均年龄为 56.44（SD=13.53），平均受教育年限为 12.14（SD=2.37）。
西班牙语患者的平均 RDS 为 5.36（SD=1.27），对照组的平均 RDS 为 5.90（SD=1.06）。讲英语的患者的平均 RDS 为 7.83（SD=1.72）。西班牙语患者的模态 RDS 为 5。西班牙语对照组的模态 RDS 也是 5，尽管分布呈双峰形式，7 的数量与 5 的数量几乎相等。讲英语的患者的模态 RDS 为 7。在受教育年限≥9 年且控制年龄的情况下，两种语言患者群体在 RDS 上仍存在显著差异（F（1，79）=30.85，p<0.0001）。
这些数据表明，对于来自拉丁美洲的讲西班牙语的单语者，尤其是受教育程度较低的人，RDS 可能不是评估表现效度的有效测量方法。
