The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank: Examining potential race differences

The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB; Rotter, Lah, & Rafferty, 1992; Rotter & Rafferty, 1950) was administered to African American (n = 94) and White (n = 100) members of fraternal organizations at a large Midwestern u niversity to explore possible influences of racial group and socially desir able response tendencies. The RISB protocols were reliably scored (interrat er agreement = 92%) by 3 independent scorers blind to participant racial me mbership. The mean scores of the 2 racial groups were not significantly dif ferent (p > .05). However, using the traditional categorical placement scor es resulted in a disproportionate assignment rate for African American scor es to the maladjusted group than would be anticipated by mere chance.