This is a question I have to answer for a University of Phoenix class, If any one could help and explain to me (in a stistics for dummies explanation:)I would appreciate it. Here goes:

Question

Six months after a divorce, the former wife, and husband each take a test that measures divorce adjustment. The wife's score is 63, and the husband's score is 59. Overall, the mean score for divorced women on the test is 60(SD=6);the mean score for divorced men is 55(SD=4). Which of the two has adjusted better to the divorce in relation to other divorced people of their own gender? Explain your answer.

Help!!!

Answer 1

The woman's score was 63, with a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 6.
So she scored within 1/2 of a SD.

The man's score was 59 with a mean of 55 and a SD of 4, so he was within 1 SD of the mean.

If a score closer to the mean implies better adjustment, then clearly the woman according to this test adjusted better.

Answer 2

I would tend to disagree with Reiny. Better adjustment would most likely be indicated by the higher scores, rather than closer to the mean (assuming that low scores indicate bad adjustment while higher ones indicate good adjustment).

Each score needs to be judged in terms of its own standardization group (men or women). A SD of +.5 = the about the 70th percentile. In other words, the woman scores equal to or above 70% of all women. In contrast, the man's SD of +1 = about the 84th percentile, scoring equal to or above 84% of all men.

I hope this helps a little more. Thanks for asking.