Development of the Children's Apperceptive Story-Telling Test.

This study reports the development of the Children"s Apperceptive Story-Telling Test (CAST), which uses story telling to evaluate the emotional functioning of children ages 6–13. The CAST yields profile scores on 4 major factors (Adaptive, Nonadaptive, Immature, and Uninvested) and 15 adaptive, nonadaptive, and problem-solving scales. The CAST is an attempt to address the psychometric issues present with traditional apperceptive techniques in that it offers a nationally representative standardization sample (N?=?876); the development of an objective Likert-type scoring system based on an Adlerian theoretical model; colored picture stimuli reflective of contemporary family, peer, and school contexts; separate but equivalent stimulus pictures of boys and girls that have been subjected to studies on ethnic sensitivity; and demonstrated viable validity and reliability with school-based behavior-disordered children (N?=?322). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)