W

WAR

While the effects of war on adults, and the countries
in which they live, have long been studied and fairly
well understood, the effects of war on children were
largely ignored until the late twentieth century. In-
creased scrutiny by the press, ‘‘instant news,’’ and
twenty-four-hour cable coverage brought the ravages
of war and children’s circumstances into people’s
homes. For example, studies have shown that more
than two-thirds of the children in the Balkan conflicts
of the 1990s were afraid they were going to die, and
an estimated 500,000 were traumatized by what they
were forced to witness. Most countries recognize that
children need special protection (but are often unable
to provide it), with the minimum protective measures
being that children must be shown special care appro-
priate for their circumstances, they should not be sep-
arated from their parents, they should not be
recruited to fight in war if they are under fifteen years
of age, and they should be evacuated from areas of
danger to protected areas.

See also: EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT; VIOLENCE

Bibliography
Qouta, Samir, Eyad El Sarraj, and Raija Leena Punamaeki. ‘‘Men-
tal Flexibility as Resiliency Factor among Children Exposed
to Political Violence.’’ International Journal of Psychology 36, no.
1 (2001):17.
Smith, Patrick, Sean Perrin, William Yule, and Sophia Rabe Hes-
keth. ‘‘ADRA Dialogues with Security Council on Effects of
War on Children.’’ In the Adventist Development and Relief

Agency of Australia [web site]. Available from http://

http://www.adra.org.au/news/2000/28b_7_00.htm 2001; INTER-

NET.

Neil J. Salkind

WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE

FOR CHILDREN

Originally developed by David Wechsler in 1949, the

third edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for

Children (WISC) was published in 1991. This stan-

dardized test is designed to measure children’s (six to

sixteen years of age) intellectual functioning in two

broad areas. Verbal subtests require language skills

similar to those used in schools, such as vocabulary

and knowledge of general information. Performance

subtests measure abstract reasoning in visual-motor

abilities, such as constructing a puzzle.

Scores on the test consistently and accurately pre-

dict academic achievement. The WISC is one of the

most commonly used tests for assessing a child’s

strengths and weaknesses in a variety of intellectual

abilities. WISC scores can be used in conjunction with

other information to diagnose learning difficulties.

Although useful in diagnosis, the WISC does not pro-

vide information on intervention strategies.

See also: INTELLIGENCE

Bibliography

Groth-Marnat, Gary. Handbook of Psychological Assessment, 3rd edi-

tion. New York: Wiley, 1999.

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