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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–5Cite as

Personality Assessment Inventory

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Synonyms

PAI

Definition

A self-report questionnaire designed to measure important clinical mental health constructs.

Introduction

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991) is a self-administered, multiscale personality inventory providing psychological assessment information pertaining to psychopathology, personality, and psychosocial environment, measuring constructs relevant to clinical diagnosis and decision-making. First published in 1991, the PAI took a construct validation approach to test development that integrated both rational and quantitative approaches to item selection and scale construction. The result is a clinical measure providing broad construct coverage, making it applicable to diverse types of settings such as clinical, health, forensic, and occupational areas. Surveys of practicing clinicians indicate that the PAI is one of the most widely used clinical measures in mental health, forensic/correctional, screening, and training contexts (e.g., Archer et...

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References

  • Archer, R. P., Buffington-Vollum, J. K., Stredny, R. V., & Handel, R. W. (2006). A survey of psychological test use patterns among forensic psychologists. Journal of Personality Assessment, 87(1), 84–94.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Leslie C. Morey & Kathryn T. Benson

Authors
  1. Leslie C. Morey
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  2. Kathryn T. Benson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leslie C. Morey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Bradley A. Green

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Morey, L.C., Benson, K.T. (2017). Personality Assessment Inventory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_922-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_922-1

  • Received:

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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