Standardization of the individual Zulliger test on non-clinical Italian population

Background: The Zulliger test (Z-test) is a projective technique, mainly used in the selection and evaluation of human resources, through a collective administration. It offers the possibility to investigate personality, assessing cognitive, affective, and interpersonal functioning, and the presence of psychopathology. The lack of normative data on the individual administration mode have encouraged this work. This is an extension of a previous work and includes statistical additional information on data obtained from the administration of the test on a non-clinical Italian population. Method: The sample consisted of 360 healthy subjects (180 male and 180 female, mean age 38.25), divided into age (18-30; 31-45; 46-60) and education (high and low) groups. All subjects were individually administered the Z-test. The ANOVA was performed to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the analyzed groups. Results: Results indicate a distribution of key test variables including whole and detail responses, determinants, contents and particular manifestations. Location tables were revised based on frequency of area usage. Specifically, a descriptive analysis was conducted on the responses, considering the total number, whole and detailed responses, formal quality, and movement responses for each group. Additionally, the frequency of use of different areas of the cards was examined through location tables. Regarding determinants, the frequency for each card was reported, along with the occurrence of the main specific manifestations. Statistical analysis did not reveal significant differences between groups in any of the examined variables: total number of responses (F = 0.26, p = 0.99), whole responses (F = 0.31, p = 0.89), detailed responses (F = 0.44, p = 0.78), formal quality (FQ), movement responses (M), and color responses (C, CF, FC). These findings suggest a homogeneous distribution of responses across demographic variables, confirming the stability of the test in non-clinical populations. Conclusion: The Z-test, like the Rorschach test, is a projective test based mainly on numerical and statistical support. The availability of statistical data focused on individual administration will allow a wider use of the test, with the future aim of comparing these data with a clinical sample.