The Influence of Language on Thematic Apperception Test Assessment of Defenses in Spanish-speaking College Students.

Cultural influences, including the use of language, have been shown to affect personality development and are therefore also likely to impact personality assessment results (Ramirez-Esparza et al., 2006). The influence of language is particularly relevant in story-telling measures such as the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Morgan & Murray, 1935). The purpose of the current study was to analyze TAT narratives delivered in Spanish and English to assess the application of defense mechanisms based on the Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM; Cramer, 1991) among Hispanic international students in the United States. The sample comprised 21 bilingual Hispanic participants who provided TAT stories in either Spanish or English. Results demonstrated that defense mechanism scores were significantly dependent on the language used (F(3,17) = 5.122, p< .05; Pillai’s Trace = .475). Specifically, univariate analyses demonstrated a significantly higher mean score for Denial (F(1,19) = 8.29, p = .01; English M = 8.82, SD = 4.64; Spanish M = 3.90, SD = 2.89) and Projection (F(1,19) = 4.63, p< .05; English M = 13.55, SD = 5.43; Spanish M = 8.00, SD = 6.38) for TAT stories narrated in English. To contextualize the aforementioned results, the frequency of distress-related words (stress, emotional distress, conflict, fear, and guilt) from Spanish and English narratives were compiled. A chi-square test of homogeneity showed a significant overall association between narrative language and distress-related words (p< .001). Words classified in the emotional distress category in English narratives (60.2%) were significantly higher in frequency than those in Spanish narratives (46.0%), whereas words in the conflict and fear categories in Spanish narratives (32.3% and 8.9%, respectively) were significantly higher in frequency than those in English narratives (21.3% and 4.6%, respectively). These findings offer guidance for psychological assessors to make informed decisions on the selection of language for eliciting TAT narratives from Hispanic individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]