Willis, Rhianna K. (2021) Examining the Base Rates of Experimental Supplemental Validity Indices of the Personality Assessment Inventory. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Personal injury claimants may be motivated to exaggerate or under-report their symptoms and difficulties due to the influence of secondary gains such as greater financial compensation. It is essential, therefore, that psychological tests used during medico-legal assessments include effective validity scales to identify claimants who are misrepresenting their psychological distress. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is one of the most commonly used psychological tests in Australian medico-legal assessments. It includes validity scales that measure inconsistent responding and negative and positive impression management. Recently, the PAI Plus was launched, which included six new supplementary validity indices that purport to increase the capabilities of the PAI in detecting invalid protocols. The current study included archival data consisting of 722 clinical case files of individuals who were assessed in a private forensic psychology practice between 2010 and 2019 as part of their personal injury claims. The base rates of the existing and experimental scales were examined and established. In addition, the experimental validity scales were evaluated regarding their utility within the medico-legal sector and their relationship to the existing validity scales. It was found that the experimental validity scales had lower base rates than the existing validity scales and did not increase the detection of invalid protocols. Therefore, clinicians who conduct medico-legal assessments in Australia should remain confident that the existing PAI validity scales will accurately identify claimants engaging in impression management.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Adina Piovesana; Graeme Senior |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2025 23:10 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2025 23:10 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Personality Assessment Inventory ; validity scales ; base rates ; personal injury ; medico-legal assessment |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52889 |
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