Brief psychosocial assessment of a clinical sample: an evaluation of the Personal Problems Checklist for Adults.

In light of the requirements for managed health care organizations to use assessment instruments that are psychometrically sound, cost and time efficient, and theoretically useful, the present study examined the psychometric properties of one such potential instrument, the Personal Problems Checklist for Adults (PPCA). Designed to measure problems in 13 areas of everyday functioning, the PPCA along with the Brief Symptom Inventory were completed by 132 individuals in an outpatient drug rehabilitation program. Counselor ratings on the Adjective Check List were also obtained. Results clearly showed that personal problems as measured by the PPCA were related to self-reported psychological symptoms and to perceptions by their counselors. The PPCA proved to have good psychometric properties and warrants greater attention by testing psychologists given its potential to meet criteria set forth by managed health care.

On the invalidity of validity scales: evidence from self-reports and observer ratings in volunteer samples.

Because of the potential for bias and error in questionnaire responding, many personality inventories include validity scales intended to correct biased scores or identify invalid protocols. The authors evaluated the utility of several types of validity scales in a volunteer sample of 72 men and 106 women who completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, 1978/1982) and were rated by 2 acquaintances on the observer form of the NEO-PI-R. Analyses indicated that the validity indexes lacked utility in this sample. A partial replication (N = 1,728) also failed to find consistent support for the use of validity scales. The authors illustrate the use of informant ratings in assessing protocol validity and argue that psychological assessors should limit their use of validity scales and seek instead to improve the quality of personality assessments.

The relation of religious belief and practices, depression, and hopelessness in persons with clinical depression.

Religious belief and practices have been associated with lower levels of depression in persons dealing with stressful situations. In this study, researchers examined this relationship in 271 persons diagnosed with clinical depression. It was hypothesized that religious belief and practices would be associated with lower depression and that this relationship would be mediated by hopelessness. Religious belief, but not religious behavior, was a significant predictor of lower levels of hopelessness and depression beyond demographic variables. Through the relation of religious belief to lower levels of hopelessness, religious belief was indirectly related to less depression. There was also a small direct positive association of belief with depression, pointing to the complexity of the role belief plays for religious persons. Further study is needed for a better understanding of different ways religion affects depressed persons.

Age differences in personality across the adult life span: parallels in five cultures.

Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in the United States have shown consistent changes between college age and middle adulthood. There appear to be declines in 3 of the 5 major factors of personality--Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness--and increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. To examine cross-cultural generalizability of these findings, translations of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory were administered to samples in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, and South Korea (N = 7,363). Similar patterns of age differences were seen in each country, for both men and women. Common trends were also seen for the more specific traits that define the major factors. Because these nations differ substantially in culture and recent history, results suggest the hypothesis that these are universal maturational changes in adult personality.

Personological evaluation of Clance's Imposter Phenomenon Scale in a Korean sample.

The purpose of this study was both to determine if the Impostor Phenomenon (IP) can be reliably and validly assessed in a Korean context and if so, evaluate the construct within the context of Jungian typology and the 5-factor model of personality. A sample of 654 Korean men and women were selected from 4 major Korean cities and administered the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; Clance & Imes, 1978) along with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI, Form G; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Results indicated that the CIPS was very reliable, and the pattern of correlates suggested impostors to be introverted types on the MBTI. Results with the NEO-PI-R showed impostors to be very high on neuroticism and low on conscientiousness. This pattern of correlates is similar to other performance-inhibiting constructs such as fear of success and fear of failure. It was argued that IP be construed more as a motivational style than as a distinct clinical syndrome. The IP seems to be less pervasive in Korea than America and these cross-cultural implications were discussed.

A longitudinal analysis of burnout in the health care setting: the role of personal dispositions.

Burnout is frequently interpreted as a situationally induced stress reaction. However, the long-term stability of burnout scores and their correlations with subjective well-being measures suggest that burnout may also reflect enduring qualities of the individual. To assess the contribution of personality to the experience of burnout, an exploratory longitudinal study was done. At Time 1, 36 occupational therapists (32 women, 4 men) from two hospitals completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach, 1982) and the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985; a measure of the five-factor model of personality). At Time 2, the MBI was again given along with the Work Environment Scale (Moos, 1981) to 29 of the original therapists. Moderately strong correlations were found between burnout scores and measures of the five factors both concurrently and longitudinally. Even when situational variables were controlled, personality continued to account for a significant portion of the variance in burnout scores. The implications of these findings are discussed.

A psychometric evaluation of the new NEO-PIR facet scales for agreeableness and conscientiousness.

The five-factor model of personality represents one of the more important developments in the area of personality theory and assessment. This empirically derived model consists of the major factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Currently there is only one commercially available measure of these dimensions: The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The NEO-PI measures each of these global domains as well as more specific facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience. The new revision of the NEO-PI (NEO-PIR) now includes facet scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The purpose of this article is to provide a psychometric evaluation of these new scales using a sample of working adults and relying on both self-report and observer ratings. The results provide strong support for the reliability and construct validity of these new scales.

An evaluation of various WAIS-R factor structures in a psychiatric sample.

This report examines the factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) in a sample of 229 psychiatric patients from two community mental health centers (ages 16 to 85). One-, two-, and three-factor solutions were evaluated. The robustness of an overall intelligence dimension was supported. The two-factor solution proved more informative and showed both that the Verbal and Performance domains are highly correlated and the presence of a second-order factor that may represent a kind of intellectual orientation or style. The three-factor solution provided the least compelling results and was not seen as a viable representation of the WAIS-R factor structure.

An assessment of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule from the perspective of the five-factor model.

We examined the validity of need scales of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) by correlating them with a measure of the five basic factors of personality; we also considered test format as a possible source of invalidity. Three hundred thirty (223 women, 107 men) undergraduate students completed both the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI)--a measure of the five factors--and one of two versions of the EPPS. Results show that both ipsative and normative versions of the EPPS could be meaningfully interpreted within the five-factor model, although the ipsative, forced-choice format of the standard EPPS apparently lowered validity coefficients and decreased convergent and discriminant validity. We argue that the five-factor model can provide a useful interpretive context for evaluating many clinical measures.

The five-factor model of personality and sexual functioning in outpatient men and women.

454 adults seeking evaluation at a sexual behaviors consultation clinic were evaluated for the major dimensions of personality as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory and various aspects of sexual attitudes and experiences via the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory. The results showed that elevated Neuroticism was correlated with dysphoric symptoms, negative body image and lowered satisfaction. More extraverted individuals reported increased drive, more sexual experience, positive body image, and more positive affects. Agreeableness was unrelated to sexual drive and satisfaction but was negatively related to symptomatology. Openness was positively associated with amount of Information, range of sexual experiences, liberal attitudes toward sex, sexual drive and fantasy and appears to broadly impact upon sexual functioning. The more conscientious subjects had lowered sexual drive, but fewer dysphoric symptoms and a better body image. Women showed a similar pattern of personality correlates with the exception that personality was unrelated to females' sexual experiences and sexual satisfaction. The present findings support and expand previous research and contribute to our understanding of how personality dispositions influence the experience and expression of sexual functioning in male and female clinical samples.

Discriminating personality disorders using the WAIS-R: a comparison of three approaches.

The purpose of this article is to determine if performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) can be used to discriminate between the different taxonomies of personality disorder classification specified by three models: the biosocial, the interpersonal, and that described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Three discriminant function analyses were performed and the results indicated the usefulness of the WAIS-R in making such differentiations for all the approaches. The WAIS-R proved most effective with the biosocial model, evidencing a robust and clinically meaningful pattern of results. Implications for further research are discussed.

Discriminating psychotic and affective disorders using the WAIS-R.

Although there are compelling theoretical explications linking performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) with specific nosological groups, research findings have been inconsistent in demonstrating such relations. Three shortcomings can be identified within this literature: (a) it focuses mostly on the WAIS, (b) it relies on pre-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. [DSM-III], American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria, and (c) it employs transformed scores or composite indices of WAIS performance. This article attempts to link performance variability on the WAIS-R (Revised) with diagnostic membership. The hypotheses of Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer (1968) are used to evaluate the clinical significance of the resulting discriminant equation.

Assessing gender-related differences in achievement orientation using two different achievement scales.

The consistent finding that the achievement scales of the Adjective Check List (ACL) and Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) are not correlated has led researchers to question the validity of both of these measures. This article presents evidence indicating that although these measures are independent, they can predict the same performance criteria. Of interest is that the EPPS predicts outcomes for men, whereas the ACL predicts performance for women. A topical examination of each measure's relationships to other scales provides a tentative rationale for these scales' orthogonality that does not call into question the validity of either measure.

Relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and thermal regulation: new directions for research.

This study examined the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and thermal regulation using biofeedback. 30 subjects were given the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. Immediately after the susceptibility score was determined, all subjects were given instructions to lower the peripheral skin temperature on the right middle finger. Subjects remained under hypnosis while they performed this task. A significant negative correlation (-.38) was found, in that the higher subjects' susceptibility, the better they were able to maintain a lower dermal temperature over trials. A 2 X 6 analysis of variance for low and high susceptibility with repeated measures yielded a significant main effect for subjects and a significant interaction of group X trials; highly susceptible subjects maintained a lower mean temperature over trials than subjects of low susceptibility. Issues for future research concerning the role of susceptibility in research on hypnosis are outlined.

Effects of hypnosis and biofeedback upon the regulation of peripheral skin temperature.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of hypnosis on the regulation of peripheral skin temperature. The independent variables were the presence of a hypnotic trance during the session on thermal regulation and the number of trials received. A two-factor mixed-design analysis of variance with repeated measures on one factor showed a significant main effect for trials and a significant interaction between hypnosis and trials. It may be concluded that hypnosis, in conjunction with thermal regulation techniques, exerts a significant influence over performance. The cognitive characteristics influenced by hypnosis may account for this finding.