Assessing Adolescents in Educational, Counseling, and Other Settings. - Review - book review

Adolescence, Spring, 2000

HOGE, Robert D. Assessing Adolescents in Educational, Counseling, and Other Settings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999. 3l8pp. $39.95 (h).

This book constitutes a comprehensive guide to the effective psychological assessment of adolescents. Adolescence is a distinct period of development that presents a number of special challenges. This fact has important implications for professionals selecting and administering assessment procedures and interpreting the data they yield, yet assessment texts have focused on adults or children and devoted minimal attention to adolescents. Throughout, the author's emphasis is on standardized instruments. Their use, he argues, provides more valid information about individuals, leads to better treatment or placement decisions, and contributes to the more efficient management of organizational resources than does reliance on clinical interviews and judgment alone. Chapters include: the analysis of adolescent development; identifying and treating problem behavior in adolescents; basic concepts in assessment; practical and ethical issues in assessment; measures of aptitudes and achievement; personality tests; the int erview; behavioral ratings and checklists; rating and questionnaire measures of attitudes, values, interests, and cognitions; composite and environmental measures; conclusions and recommendations.