| dc.description.abstract | The present study examined whether individuals with poor math ability possess more
atypical personality characteristics than individuals with average or good math abilities.
Individuals with nonverbal learning disability syndrome (NLD) have been found to have
difficulties with mechanical arithmetic and psychosocial functioning, and it was hypothesized
that the individuals in the poor math group in this study would be analogous to individuals with
NLD with respect to psychosocial functioning. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory - 2 (MMPI-2) was used to assess the personality characteristics o f 48 undergraduate
university students (31 females and 17 males), assessed as having poor, average and good math
ability based on their performance on the Wide Range Achievement Test - 3 (WRAT-3). The
hypothesis that the individuals with poor math abilities would resemble individuals with NLD in
their social-emotional deficits was not upheld, as the individuals in the poor math group did not
display any more significant elevations on the Clinical nor Content Scales of the MMPI-2 than
did the individuals in the other math ability groups. These findings suggest that the deficits of
NLD do not run along a continuum of mathematical ability, and that the poor math group in this
study was not simply displaying attenuated forms of the deficits seen in NLD individuals. | |
