Examination of the reliability and validity of the personality assessment inventory

Abstract

The reliability, discriminant validity, and construct validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) - a multidimensional self-report measure of abnormal personality traits - were examined within the Australian context. Subjects included 151 normals, 30 alcoholics, and 30 schizophrenic patients. A subsample of 70 nonpsychiatric adults responded to the PAI items twice over a test-retest interval of 28 days. The resulting median retest coefficient was 0.7, indicating less than optimal stability. The median alpha (KR21) coefficient was 0.8, suggesting somewhat narrow measurement scales. A significant multivariate main effect was obtained across groups after the effects of age and gender..