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Personality Assessment Inventory

Last Updated

Purpose

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is used to assess various domains of personality and psychopathology among adults and is designed to provide information relevant to clinical diagnosis, treatment planning, and screening for psychopathology (aged 18 and up)

Link to Instrument

Instrument Details

Acronym PAI

Area of Assessment

Attention & Working Memory
Behavior
Cognition
Depression
Mental Health
Personality
Psychosis
Social Relationships
Social Support
Stress & Coping
Substance

Assessment Type

Patient Reported Outcomes

Administration Mode

Paper & Pencil

Cost

Not Free

Actual Cost

$520.00

Cost Description

$520 for PAI Comprehensive Kit or $123 for PAI manual and $8 per use. Further pricing details can be found here: https://www.parinc.com/Products/Pkey/287

Populations

Healthy Adults
Non-Specific Patient Population
Mental Health

Key Descriptions

  • 344-item self-report inventory to assess various domains of personality and psychopathology among adults
  • Scales and Subscales
    - 4 Validity Scales (Inconsistency, Infrequency, Negative Impression Management, Positive Impression Management)
    - 11 Clinical Scales (Somatic Complaints, Anxiety, Anxiety-Related Disorders, Depression, Mania, Paranoia, Schizophrenia, Borderline Features, Antisocial Features, Alcohol Problems, Drug Problems)
    - 5 Treatment Consideration Scales (Aggression, Suicidal Ideation, Stress, Nonsupport, Treatment Rejection)
    - 2 Interpersonal Scales (Dominance, Warmth)
  • Items are answered on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from False, Slightly True, Mainly True to Very True
  • Subscale scores typically fall under “average,” “some problems,” “elevated,” or “markedly elevated” and these ranges differ by subscales
  • PAI scale and subscale raw scores are transformed to T scores with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10; scores of 70 and above indicated departures from normal community respondents

Number of Items

344

Equipment Required

  • Questionnaire
  • Pen/Pencil

Time to Administer

50-60 minutes

Required Training

Training Course

Required Training Description

Advanced professional degree that provides administrators with the appropriate training in both administration and interpretation of psychological tests. Or license or certification from an agency that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethical and competent use of psychological tests. Can be administered by technicians trained in administration of self-report tools.

Age Ranges

Adult

18 - 64

years

Elderly Adult

65 +

years

Instrument Reviewers

Tyler Yoshida, M.D. candidate, Northwestern University

Elayna Mork, D.O. candidate, Midwestern University

Stuart Rumrill, M.S., CRC, University of Wisconsin-Madison

ICF Domain

Activity
Participation

Measurement Domain

Cognition
Emotion
General Health

Considerations

  • Adolescent version available
  • Spanish version available

Mental Health

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Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

Psychiatric Inpatients (Boone, 1998; n= 78; mean age= 31.3 (SD= 11.3) years

  • SEM for Validity Subscales:
    • Negative Impression: 10.04
    • Positive Impression: 6.42
  • SEM for Clinical Subscales: 
    • Somatic complaints: 4.83
    • Anxiety: 4.26
    • Anxiety-related: 6.59
    • Depression: 5.05
    • Mania: 5.70
    • Paranoia: 6.27
    • Schizophrenia: 6.07
    • Borderline Feature: 5.29
    • Antisocial Feature: 5.66
    • Alcohol: 5.78
    • Drugs: 7.74
  • SEM for Treatment Consideration Subscales: 
    • Aggression: 5.14
    • Suicide Ideation: 6.31
    • Stress: 7.25
    • Nonsupport: 8.21
    • Treatment Rejection: 5.66
  • SEM for Interpersonal Subscales: 
    • Dominance: 6.11
    • Warmth: 5.61

Minimal Detectable Change (MDC)

Psychiatric Inpatients: (Boone, 1998; n= 78; mean age= 31.3 (SD= 11.3) years

  • MDC for Validity Subscales: 
    • Negative Impression: 27.83
    • Positive Impression: 17.80
  • MDC for Clinical Subscales: 
    • Somatic complaints: 13.39
    • Anxiety: 11.81
    • Anxiety-related: 18.27
    • Depression: 14.00
    • Mania: 15.80
    • Paranoia: 17.38
    • Schizophrenia: 16.83
    • Borderline Feature: 14.66
    • Antisocial Feature: 15.69
    • Alcohol: 16.02
    • Drugs: 21.45
  • MDC for Treatment Consideration Subscales: 
    • Aggression: 14.25
    • Suicide Ideation: 17.49
    • Stress: 20.10
    • Nonsupport: 22.76
    • Treatment Rejection: 15.69
  • MDC for Interpersonal Subscales: 
    • Dominance: 16.94
    • Warmth: 15:55

Cut-Off Scores

Community Dwelling Adults: (Morey, 1991; n=1000)

  • Scores of around 70+ indicate significant departures from normal community respondents

Interrater/Intrarater Reliability

Women with Posttramatic Stress Disorder: (Calhoun et al., 2009; n=62; Mean Age = 41.6 (12.3) years)

  • Excellent interrater reliability: (Fleiss Kappa = 0.94)

Internal Consistency

Psychiatric Inpatients: (Boone, 1998, n= 111; Mean Age= 31.3 (11.3) years)

  • Excellent internal consistency of overall score (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83)
  • Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for Positive Impression (0.80), Somatization (0.85), Anxiety (0.93), Anxiety-Related (0.80), Depression (0.91), Paranoia (0.80), Schizophrenia (0.88), Borderline (0.88), Antisocial (0.84), Alcohol (0.92), Drugs (0.89), Aggression (0.88), and Suicide Ideation (0.90) scales
  • Adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for Mania (0.78), Treatment Rejection (0.79), Dominance (0.74), and Warmth (0.78) scales
  • Poor internal consistency for Negative Impression, Stress and Nonsupport scales

Criterion Validity (Predictive/Concurrent)

Women with Posttramatic Stress Disorder: (Calhoun et al., 2009; n=62; Mean Age = 41.6 (12.3) years)
  • Adequate predictive validity for the PAI PTSD LOGIT function (AUC = 0.856)

Non-Specific Patient Population

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Normative Data

Bariatric Surgery Candidates: (Corsica et al., 2010; n= 546; mean age= 42.52 (10.55) years

  • Overall scale mean: 51.1 (SD= 2.2)
  • Mean Negative impression: 49.48 (SD= 8.69)
  • Mean Positive impression: 54.66 (SD= 10.63)
  • Mean Somatic complaints: 58.69 (SD= 11.29)
  • Mean Anxiety: 49.07 (9.79)
  • Mean Anxiety-related disorders: 47.47 (SD= 10.44)
  • Mean Depression: 52.17 (SD= 11.10)
  • Mean Mania: 49.19 (SD= 10.19)
  • Mean Paranoia: 49.46 (SD= 9.95)
  • Mean Schizophrenia: 44.75 (SD= 9.38)
  • Mean Borderline features: 49.10 (SD= 10.04)
  • Mean Antisocial features: 46.29 (SD= 7.25)
  • Mean Alcohol problems: 45.77 (SD= 5.98)
  • Mean Drug problems: 50.98 (SD= 8.27)
  • Mean Aggression: 47.84 (SD= 8.77)
  • Mean Suicidal ideation: 46.81 (SD= 6.84)
  • Mean Stress: 50.05 (SD= 10.45)
  • Mean Nonsupport: 45.88 (SD= 9.21)
  • Mean Treatment rejection: 47.75 (SD= 8.60)
  • Mean Dominance: 56.26 (SD= 10.25)
  • Mean Warmth: 54.97 (SD= 9.67)

Internal Consistency

Bariatric Surgery Candidates: (Corsica et al., 2010; n= 546; mean age= 42.52 (10.55) years; mean BMI = 49.5 (10.5))

  • Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for Somatic Complaints (0.89), Anxiety (0.91), Anxiety-related Disorders (0.80), Depression (0.90), Mania (0.82), Paranoia (0.85), Schizophrenia (0.87), Borderline Features (0.88), Aggression (0.82), Suicidal Ideation (0.84), and Stress scales (0.81)
  • Adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for Positive Impression (0.76), Antisocial (0.71), Nonsupport (0.74), Dominance (0.76), and Warmth scales (0.78)
  • Poor internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for Negative Impression (0.63), Alcohol (0.55), Drugs (0.53), and Treatment Rejection (0.66)

Healthy Adults

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Test/Retest Reliability

Healthy Adults: (Boyle & Lennon, 1994; n=70)

  • Adequate overall test-retest reliability: (ICC = 0.73)
  • Excellent test-retest reliability (stability coefficient values) for Negative Impression (0.85), Positive Impression (0.81), Anxiety-Related Disorders (0.76), Depression (0.80), Schizophrenia (0.79), Alcohol Problems (0.78), Drug Problems (0.76), Aggression (0.77), and Suicidal Ideation (0.86) subscales
    Adequate test-retest reliability (stability coefficient values) for Infrequency (0.67), Somatic Complaints (0.73), Anxiety (0.62), Mania (0.72), Paranoias (0.65), Borderline Features (0.73), Antisocial Features (0.63), Stress (0.73), Nonsupport (0.69), Treatement Rejections (0.69), Dominance (0.70), and Warmth (0.74) scales

Bibliography

Boone, D. (1998). Internal consistency reliability of the personality assessment inventory with psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(6), 839-843.

Boyle, G. J. (1994). Examination of the reliability and validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 16(3), 173-187.

Calhoun, P. S., Boggs, C. D., Crawford, E. F., & Beckham, J. C. (2009). Diagnostic efficiency of the Personality Assessment Inventory LOGIT function for posttraumatic stress disorder in women. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(5), 409-415.

Corsica, J. A., Azarbad, L., McGill, K., Wool, L., & Hood, M. (2010). The Personality Assessment Inventory: Clinical utility, psychometric properties, and normative data for bariatric surgery candidates. Clinical Research, 20, 722-731.

Morey, L. C. (1991). The Personality Assessment Inventory Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Morey, L. C., & Lowmaster, S. E. (2010). Personality assessment inventory. The Corsini    Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1-4.

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