Effects of information about validity scales on underreporting of symptoms on the personality assessment inventory

We investigated the effects of information about validity scales on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) on underreporting of symptoms in a college student population. A group of participants completing the PAI under the standard instructions was compared to two groups of participants who had been instructed and given incentives to underreport symptoms. One of the underreporting groups was given a brief warning about the presence of scales designed to detect respondents attempting to present an unrealistically favorable impression. Results suggested that underreporting scales on the PAI are effective in discriminating standard profiles from those completed by uncoached underreporting participants but are less effective in discriminating standard profiles from those produced by participants who have been warned about the underreporting scales. The findings suggest that coaching may enable some respondents to underreport symptoms without detection.     

Assessing young adolescents' personality with the five-factor personality inventory

The Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) assesses a person's position on the (Dutch) psycholexically based Big Five factors: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Autonomy. FFPI factor scores are reliable and valid if ratings are made by adults. The present study yields preliminary evidence of whether young adolescents provide reliable and valid self-ratings on this instrument or whether this depends on their cognitive ability level. The sample consisted of a large and representative cohort of youngsters with a mean age of 13 years. The adult structure of the FFPI was generally well replicated, across all ability levels represented in the study. The findings further suggest that young adolescents' factor scores are construct-valid and sufficiently reliable to be used in (group) research settings. However, for reports on individual profiles and decision making, an adolescent's cognitive ability level would need to be rather high. Even then, measuring Autonomy seems challenging.     

Extratest validity of selected personality assessment inventory scales and indicators in an inpatient substance abuse setting

The purpose of this study was to extend previous findings regarding the extratest validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (Morey, 1991, 2007) scales and indicators in forensic contexts to an inpatient substance abuse setting. The Aggression Scale, and particularly the Physical Aggression subscale, related to assault history; the Suicide Scale and Suicide Probability Index related to history of suicide attempts; Antisocial Features, and particularly the Antisocial Behaviors subscale, predicted rule infractions; and the Treatment Process Index predicted treatment completion. We discuss clinical implications in the context of extant findings.     

Introduction to the special issue on the personality assessment inventory

This special issue of the Journal of Personality Assessment brings together 13 new research studies on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) that should inform users and stimulate future empirical activity with this measure. In 4 articles, authors evaluate the validity scales and indexes of the PAI using both analog and criterion designs and samples from a variety of clinical and forensic settings. In a 5th article, the authors describe a novel approach to profile interpretation using two PAI negative distortion measures. The authors present applications of the PAI to new populations and problems including a German translation of the PAI and profile information for male batterers and victims of head injury. The authors of 2 studies extend research on the validity of the PAI for the assessment of borderline personality disorder. In the final 3 studies, the authors evaluate the validity of PAI measures of violence and aggression to predict subsequent aggressive behavior and institutional misconduct. Finally, the authors offer several suggestions for future research with the PAI.     

Validity of sex-balanced interest inventory scales

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of sex-balanced and sex-restrictive raw score interest scales in discriminating among vocational preference groups. Analyses were conducted separately for 502 males in six vocational preference groups and 878 females in five vocational preference groups. The degree and nature of the discrimination among groups were highly similar for the two types of scales for both males and females. Centour scores derived from sex-balanced and sex-restrictive raw scores resulted in essentially the same percentages of correct classifications of group membership. The results of this study suggest that the large sex differences traditionally found in interest inventory items may not be a necessary concomitant of validity. Hence, interest inventory reports that reflect these differences may unnecessarily restrict the career suggestions they provide to women and men.     

Response style and the revised NEO personality inventory: validity scales and spousal ratings in a Chinese psychiatric sample

The effects of response style bias on profile scores from the family of NEO scales and the resultant influence of response style on the predictive capacity of these scales continues to be debated. In this study, a large sample of Chinese psychiatric patients were categorized into four response style groups based on their scores from recently developed "validity" scales for the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). Mean differences and correlations between self-report and spousal ratings of these patients were examined for the NEO PI-R domain and facet scales. Excessive positive self-presentation bias resulted in mean differences between the self-report and spousal ratings for N and E. Correlations between self-report and spousal ratings were reduced in patients engaging in positive self-presentational bias compared to those who were not so categorized on three of the five NEO PI-R scales. However, these results were manifest only in a sub-sample of psychotic patients. Negative self-presentational bias did not affect mean differences or diminish the correlations between the self-report and spousal ratings.     

Feigning combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder on the personality assessment inventory

This study examined whether individuals who were instructed on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could feign PTSD on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991). The study also investigated whether PAI indexes of symptom exaggeration, the Negative Impression Management (NIM) scale and the Malingering index, could identify individuals feigning PTSD. The diagnostic rule for PTSD (Morey, 1991, 1996) was applied to the profiles of a group of 23 veterans with combat-related PTSD and 23 male undergraduates instructed to malinger PTSD. Seventy percent of the student malingerers produced profiles that received diagnostic consideration for PTSD. The NIM cutting score (> or = 8) was highly effective in detecting simulation of PTSD but resulted in the misclassification of a large number of true PTSD cases. There were no significant differences in the overall efficiency of the test with various validity criteria. We discuss the implications of these findings for the use of the PAI in the diagnosis of combat-related PTSD.     

The content of personality inventory items

Four aspects of the item content of personality inventories were studied: the area of psychological functioning addressed (cognitive, preferences, feelings, behavioral), degree of reference to situational factors, degree of reference to response frequency, and the nature of reference to time. Three judges rated items of the California Psychological Inventory, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Maudsley Personality Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Jackson Personality Research Form, and Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. Behavioral acts were found infrequently addressed in inventory items, and the other areas of functioning were approximately equally represented. More than half of the items referred to situation characteristics, 39% included the notion of frequency of behavior or experience, and most referred to the present. Rating reliabilities were also presented, and results for individual inventories were compared. Implications for controversies in the field of personality were discussed.     

Psychometric evaluation of the depressive personality disorder inventory

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory (DPDI; Huprich, Margrett, Barthelemy, & Fine, 1996). The DPDI was found to have strong internal consistency in both an undergraduate and a veteran, psychiatric outpatient population. The DPDI had significant, positive correlations with other measures of depressive personality, supporting its convergent validity. These relationships remained even after controlling for state-like depression, suggesting that the DPDI has incremental validity. The DPDI also significantly predicted scores on measures of interpersonal loss, even after controlling for state-like depression, suggesting that the DPDI has good construct validity. In support of discriminant validity, the DPDI was more correlated with another measure of depressive personality than it was with measures of other personality disorders. Finally, the DPDI had strong diagnostic efficiency statistics: (a) Sensitivity = .82, (b) Specificity = .80, (c) Positive Predictive Power = .75, (d) Negative Predictive Power = .86, and (e) Overall Diagnostic Power = .81. It appears that the DPDI has good psychometric properties.