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Personality Assessment Inventory - Adolescent (PAI-A)

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Portuguese version

Currently being adapted and validated for the Portuguese population by Mariana Moniz, Mário R. Simões, Octávio Moura, and Mauro Paulino. The Portuguese edition of the PAI-A will be published and marketed by the test publisher Hogrefe.

Original version

Morey (2007). Personality Assessment Inventory – Adolescent: Professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources

Brief framework

The Personality Assessment Inventory – Adolescent (PAI-A; Morey, 2007) is a personality self-report scale, designed for populations aged 12 to 18.

The PAI-A presents information concerning clinical variables that are considered critical in adolescence. It was designed based on the adult version of the same inventory (i.e., Personality Assessment Inventory – PAI; Morey, 1991). In an effort to guarantee the similarity and continuity between scales, Morey made sure every clinical construct assessed by the PAI-A was identical to the ones assessed by the PAI, and selected based on their diagnostic conceptualization and its relevance to clinical practice.

The PAI-A is comprised of 4 validity scales, 11 clinical scales, 5 treatment consideration scales, and 2 interpersonal scales (Morey, 2007). In total, the questionnaire includes 264 items, and the administration time ranges from 30 to 45 minutes. It is a Likert-type scale, where each item presents four response options, namely False, Slightly True, Quite True and Completely True. Item scores are added into raw data and converted into T scores (standardized result that varies from a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10). To be completed, it is essential that the adolescent has reading skills corresponding to the literacy level of the fourth grade.

The reliability values, namely internal consistency and test-retest stability found for the full scales are .79 and .78, respectively.

The four (04) PAI Validity Scales – Negative Impression Management (NIM), Positive Impression Management (PIM), Inconsistency (ICN) and Infrequency (INF) – were developed to assess profile distortion, which may result from sources of random (assessed with ICN and INF) or systematic (assessed with NIM and PIM) response distortions. Due to the potential information bias that may be present in a forensic context, especially when dealing with delinquent and at risk youths (Gremmen et al., 2019), the existence of response validity scales represents an important advantage for the interpretation of the psychological assessment.

The eleven (11) Clinical Scales include the following domains: Somatic Complaints; Anxiety; Anxiety-related disorders; Depression; Mania; Paranoia; Schizophrenia; Borderline Features; Antisocial Features; Alcohol Problems; Drug Problems.

The five (05) Treatment Considerations Scales include the following dimensions: Aggression; Suicidal Ideation; Stress; Nonsupport; Treatment Rejection.

The two (02) Interpersonal Relationship Scales comprise the following domains: Dominance; Affability.

The PAI-A has good applicability in clinical settings, assessing constructs which may help diagnose clinical disorders, such as Personality Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Autism Spectre Disorder, Anxiety, Phobias, and Depression (Hooks et al., 2021; Kim et al., 2021; Morey & Meyer, 2014; Pezzuti et al., 2022).

Recent studies using the PAI-A have demonstrated its relevance in the context of justice, especially with delinquent and at-risk youths (Charles et al., 2021, 2022).

Description

  • Assessment domain: Personality.
  • Type of instrument: Self-response questionnaire.
  • Number of items: 264 items, with a 4-point Likert scale (False; Slightly True; Quite True; Totally True).
  • Administration: Individual or collective.
  • Time: Variable, usually between 30 and 45 minutes.
  • Population: Adolescents (12 to 18 years of age).

Studies

The investigations planned and being implemented within the scope of Mariana Moniz’s PhD Project* entitled “Personality Assessment Inventory – Adolescent (PAI-A): Portuguese adaptation and validation” (Supervisors: Mário R. Simões, Octávio Moura) include several validation studies with community, clinical and forensic samples.

* Supported by a PhD scholarship awarded by the FCT.

Contactos / Contacts

Mariana Moniz (marianacmoniz@gmail.com)

Mário R. Simões (simoesmr@fpce.uc.pt)

References

  1. Charles, N. E., Bullerjahn, M. R., & Barry, C. T. (2021). Understanding at-risk youths: Average PAI-A scores and their associations with impulsivity-related constructs. Journal of Personality Assessment, 103(1), 33-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2019.1692855
  2. Charles, N. E., Cowell, W., & Gulledge, L. M. (2022). Using the Personality Assessment Inventory-Adolescent in legal settings. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(2), 192-202. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2021.2019050
  3. Gremmen, M. C., Berger, C., Ryan, A. M., Steglich, C. E., Veenstra, R., & Dijkstra, J. K. (2019). Adolescents’ friendships, academic achievement, and risk behaviors: Same‐behavior and cross‐behavior selection and influence processes. Child Development, 90(2), e192-e211.
  4. Hooks, E., Dale, B. A., & Hernandez Finch, M. E. (2021). Profile analysis of the Personality Assessment Inventory‐Adolescent (PAI‐A) for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Psychology in the Schools, 58(2), 400-415. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22453
  5. Kim, K. W., Lim, J. S., Yang, C. M., Jang, S. H., & Lee, S. Y. (2021). Classification of adolescent psychiatric patients at high risk of suicide using the Personality Assessment Inventory by machine learning. Psychiatry Investigation, 18(11), 1137. https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2021.0191
  6. Moniz, M., Paulino, M., Moura, O., & Simões, M. R. (submetido para publicação/submitted). O Inventário de Avaliação da Personalidade – Adolescentes (PAI-A): Um contributo para a avaliação psicológica de adolescentes [The Personality Assessment Inventory – Adolescent (PAI-A): A contribute to the psychological assessment of adolescents].
  7. Morey, L. C. (2007). Personality Assessment Inventory-Adolescent: Professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
  8. Morey, L. C., & Meyer, J. K. (2014). Conceptualizing youth borderline personality disorder within a PAI framework. Handbook of Borderline Personality Disorder in children and adolescents, 49-64. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0591-1_5
  9. Pezzuti, L., Dell'Anna, B., Quarato, S., Colavero, P., Tornasello, A., & Varani, S. (2022). Psychological functioning of adolescent with cancer. Psychology Hub, 39(2), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.13133/2724-2943/17702