External validity of the personality assessment inventory (PAI) in a clinical sample

This study contributes to the ongoing construct validation of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991, 2007) by identifying nontest life-event correlates of the PAI full scales and subscales in a sample of psychiatric patients. The life-event data used in this study included education, marital status, and employment, as well as a history of suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, trauma, medical problems, hallucinations, paranoid ideation, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and arrest. Correlations were calculated to explore the convergent and discriminant validity of the PAI scales relative to the life-event data. The results showed that the majority of the PAI scales (11 of 13) had meaningful correlations with at least 1 life-event variable. The PAI BOR scale had the greatest number of correlations and was associated with 8 life-event variables. In contrast, the PAI ANX and MAN scales had no correlations above a predetermined threshold (r ≥.21). These findings add to the growing body of empirical correlates of the PAI and generally provide support for the construct validity of the PAI scales.