PAI®

Technical information

• Reliability and validity are based on data from a U.S. Census-matched normative sample of 1,000 community-dwelling adults, a sample of 1,265 patients from 69 clinical sites, and a college sample of 1,051 students.
• Because the PAI was normed on adults in a variety of clinical and community settings, profiles can be compared with both normal and clinical populations.
• Reliability studies indicate that the PAI has a high degree of internal consistency across samples—results are stable over periods of 2-4 weeks (median alpha and test-retest correlations exceed .80 for the 22 scales). 
• Validity studies demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity with more than 50 other measures of psychopathology.

Reliability

Reliability analyses presented in the manual demonstrate that the PAI exhibits high internal consistency across diverse samples, and that the instrument's results are stable over short-term intervals ranging from 2 to 4 weeks. Specifically, median alpha coefficients and test-retest correlations exceeded 0.80 across the different scales, with results replicated in many subsequent studies. For example, recent empirical evidence provided by Maffly-Kipp and Morey (2023) corroborates these findings, indicating that the PAI maintains notable test-retest reliability over an extended duration of 9 weeks, as evidenced by a median test-retest correlation of 0.79. Notably, elevations on the PAI ICN/INF validity scales at baseline led to much lower test-retest reliability, providing support for the utility of these PAI indicators in detecting problematic responding.

Test structure

The 344 PAI items constitute 22 nonoverlapping scales covering the constructs most relevant to a broad-based assessment of mental disorders: four validity scales, 11 clinical scales, five treatment scales, and two interpersonal scales. To facilitate interpretation and to cover the full range of complex clinical constructs, 10 scales contain conceptually derived subscales.

• Clinical scales provide critical diagnostic features of 11 important clinical constructs. These 11 scales may be divided into three broad classes of disorders: those within the neurotic spectrum, those within the psychotic spectrum, and those associated with behavior disorder or impulse control problems.
• Treatment scales indicate potential complications in treatment. Five scales include two indicators of potential for harm to self or others, two measures of the respondent’s environmental circumstances, and one indicator of the respondent’s motivation for treatment.
• Interpersonal scales provide valuable information regarding the client’s relationships and interactions. Interpersonal style is assessed along two dimensions: a warmly affiliative versus a cold rejecting style, and a dominating/controlling versus a meekly submissive style.
• Two scales assess pathology. The Borderline Features scale is the only PAI scale that has four subscales, reflecting the factorial complexity of the construct. The Antisocial Features scale includes three subscales: one assessing antisocial behaviors and the other two assessing antisocial traits.
• Critical Items form alerts you to issues that require immediate attention. This form lists 27 items (distributed across nine content areas) that suggest behavior or psychopathology that may demand immediate attention. They are identified as critical based on two criteria: indications of a potential crisis situation and a very low endorsement rate in normal individuals.

The accompanying screening test to the PAI is the Personality Assessment Screener (PAS). It is a 22 item screener that takes 5 minutes to administer.  Also available is the Personality Assessment Screener-Observer (PAS-O). PAS-O allows you to gain valuable insight from someone close to the client to help screen for clinical issues and determine the need for follow-up testing.  If PAS or PAS-O results indicate the need for in-depth testing, the PAI provides information relevant for clinical diagnosis and treatment planning.

The PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory) assesses personality and psychopathology, giving you and your team the insight and understanding needed to effectively formulate the treatment plan for your substance use patients.

Diagnostic clarity—The PAI assesses mental health symptoms that often co-occur with substance use disorder, leading to a more comprehensive treatment plan for your patients.

Screen for risk factors—The PAI can assist you in screening patients for risk factors such as impulsive behavior that can negatively affect treatment.

Create individualized treatment plans—The PAI includes treatment consideration scales so you can tailor your treatment plan to that patient's unique needs.

Alcohol and drug indexes —The ALC Est and DRG Est indexes help you detect substance use underreporting.  Low scores are regarded with suspicion if your client has other characteristics that would lead you to expect the person to have at least experimented with alcohol or controlled substances.