Abstract

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether or not demographically-corrected test scores derived from the Neuropsychological Norms for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region in Spanish (NP-NUMBRS) would be less accurate if applied to Spanish-speakers with various degrees of English fluency. Spanish-English Method: One hundred and seventy primarily Spanish-speaking adults from the NP-NUMBRS project completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. T-scores adjusted for age, education, and sex (but not degree of bilingualism), were derived for each test utilizing population-specific normative data. English fluency was assessed via the Controlled Oral Word Association Test in English (F-A-S), and Spanish fluency with “P-M-R,” and degree of relative English fluency was calculated as the ratio of English language words over total words produced in both languages. Effects of degree of bilingualism on the NUMBRS battery test scores (raw scores and T-scores) were examined via Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficients, and language groups (Spanish dominant vs. relative bilingual) were compared on demographically adjusted T-scores via independent samples t-tests. Results: Higher Spanish-English bilingualism was associated with higher education and SES, and was significantly associated with higher raw scores on all tests, but only associated with higher T-scores on a limited number of tests (i.e., WAIS-III Digit Symbol, Symbol Search, Letter-Number Sequencing and Trails B). Conclusion: Degree of Spanish-English bilingualism generally did not account for significant variance in the normed tests beyond the standard demographic adjustments on most tests. Overall, the normative adjustments provided by the NP-NUMBRS project appear applicable to native Spanish speakers from the U.S.-Mexico border region with various degrees of Spanish-English bilingualism.

摘要

目的：我们的目的是调查如果应用于具有不同程度英语流利程度的讲西班牙语的人，来自西班牙语的美墨边境地区神经心理学规范 (NP-NUMBRS) 的人口学校正测试分数是否会不太准确。西班牙语-英语方法：来自 NP-NUMBRS 项目的 170 名主要讲西班牙语的成年人完成了一项全面的神经心理学测试。针对年龄、教育和性别（但不是双语程度）调整的 T 分数是利用特定人群的规范数据为每个测试得出的。英语流利度通过受控英语口语关联测试 (FAS) 评估，西班牙语流利度通过“PMR”评估，相对英语流利程度计算为英语语言单词与两种语言产生的总单词的比率。双语程度对 NUMBRS 电池测试分数（原始分数和 T 分数）的影响通过 Pearson 的乘积矩相关系数和语言组（西班牙语为主 vs.结果：较高的西班牙语-英语双语与高等教育和 SES 相关，并且与所有测试的较高原始分数显着相关，但仅与有限数量的测试（即 WAIS-III 数字符号，符号搜索、字母数字排序和轨迹 B)。结论：西班牙语-英语双语程度通常不能解释标准测试中超出大多数测试标准人口调整的显着差异。总体而言，NP-NUMBRS 项目提供的规范性调整似乎适用于来自美墨边境地区、具有不同程度的西班牙语-英语双语能力的以西班牙语为母语的人。