Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) - Subject Follow-up
This measure appears in the following time-points: Follow72.
Related Construct
Description of Measure
The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is an inventory of adult personality designed to provide information on critical clinical variables. The full PAI contains 344 items which comprise 22 non-overlapping scales. It is designed to be used with individuals from age 18 to adult. Two of the clinical scales (borderline and antisocial features) were administered one time to the Pathways study participants between the time of their 72-month and 84-month interviews. Study participant were an average age 21-22 at the time of administration.
The Borderline Features items focus on attributes indicative of a borderline personality, including unstable and fluctuating interpersonal relations, impulsivity, affective lability and instability, and uncontrolled anger. Subscales are: affective instability (BOR-A, 6 items), identify problems (BOR-I, 6 items), negative relationships (BOR-N, 6 items) and self harm (BOR-S, 6 items). The Antisocial Features items focus on a history of illegal acts and authority problems, egocentrism, lack of empathy and loyalty, instability and excitement-seeking. Subscales are: antisocial behaviors (ANT-A, 8 items), egocentricity (ANT-E, 8 items), and stimulus-seeking (ANT-S, 8 items). (Please refer to the "data issues" section regarding one item in the antisocial scale.)
Scoring of the PAI followed steps specified in the PAI Manual (with one exception, see next paragraph). Raw to T-score conversions were done using the conversion table (Table A-1 in the manual) derived from the census-matched standardization sample. The census-matched standardized sample is a subset of a group of 1,462 community-dwelling adults (age 18 or older) from both urban and rural settings in 12 states. A subset of 1,000 census-matched subjects were selected from the larger group on the basis of cross-stratification for the variables of gender, race and age. For most research purposes, the PAI manual (page 51) recommends the use of this conversion table rather than the conversion tables for particular subgroups (e.g. college students, blacks, or individuals over 60) because the influence of demographic variables (particularly gender and race) was fairly small and the normative data in table A-1 is drawn from a representative and larger sample size.
The PAI manual (page 11) recommends that the PAI results be used only if the validity subscales (inconsistency, infrequency, negative impression, positive impression) that are part of the full PAI are within an acceptable range. However, the Pathways study did not administer the validity subscales so we are not able to take the results of these subscales into consideration.
Interpreting raw subscale values:
- The PAI manual (page 17-18) provides a text interpretation of high scores for each of the borderline and antisocial subscales. Importantly, the manual does not provide standardized values for subscales, thus only raw scores are available for each of the subscales that comprise these scales.
Interpretation of borderline and antisocial scale T-scores:
- The PAI manual (page 17 and 18) indicates that an average score on the Borderline scale (59T or below) reflects a person who reports being emotionally stable and who also has stable relationships. Scores ranging from 60T-69T are indicative of a person who may be seen as moody, sensitive, and having some uncertainty about life goals; scores in this range are not uncommon in young adults. Individuals scoring in the upper end of this range may be increasingly angry and dissatisfied with their interpersonal relationships. With a score at or above 70T, the respondent is likely to be impulsive and emotionally labile, to feel misunderstood by others (who often perceive the respondent as egocentric), and to find it difficult to sustain close relationships. Scores in this range do not necessarily suggest a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder unless there are prominent elevations on all four borderline subscales, because individual features are common to other disorders.
- Average scores on the antisocial scale (59T or below) reflect persons who report being reasonably empathic and warm in their relationships with others; these individual typically exhibit reasonable control over impulses and behavior. Scores ranging from 60T through 69T are indicative of a person who may be seen as being somewhat impulsive and a risk-taker, scores in this range are not uncommon in young adults, particularly young men. Individuals scoring in the upper end of this range (65T-69T) may be increasingly self-centered, skeptical of others' intentions, and unsympathetic in their interpersonal relationships. With scores at or about 70T, respondents are likely to be impulsive and hostile, and there may be a history of antisocial acts. Scores that are markedly high (at or above 82T) are typically associated with prominent features of antisocial personality disorder.
Available scores include:
- [S9raw_AntA] (antisocial: antisocial behaviors subscale - raw scores, sum of 8 items)
- [S9raw_AntE] (antisocial: egocentricity subscale - raw scores, sum of 8 items)
- [S9raw_AntS] (antisocial: stimulus seeking - raw scores, sum of 8 items)
- [S9raw_Antisocial] subscale score (full antisocial scale - raw scores, sum of 3 subscales)
- [S9Tscore_Antisocial] subscale (T score value for the antisocial raw score)
- [S9Tscore_Interp_Antisocial] group antisocial subscale (meaning of the antisocial Tscore)
- [S9raw_BorA] (borderline: affective instability -raw scores, sum of 6 items)
- [S9raw_BorI] (borderline: identify problems - raw scores, sum of 6 items)
- [S9raw_BorN] (borderline: negative relationships - raw scores, sum of 6 items)
- [S9raw_BorS] (borderline: self-harm - raw scores, sum of 6 items)
- [S9raw_Borderline] (subscale score full borderline scale - raw scores, sum of 4 subscales)
- [S9Tscore_Borderline] subscale score (T score value for the borderline raw score)
- [S9Tscore_Interp_Borderline] group - borderline subscale (meaning of the Borderline Tscore)
Data Issues
- One item from the antisocial scale (Ant-A subscale) was inadvertently omitted from the Pathways interview. In order to salvage use of the scale, we imputed the value for this item. The imputed value was the individual-level mean value of the other antisocial Ant-A subscale items.
References
- Morey, L.C. (1991). Personality Assessment Inventory, Professional Manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.