A survey of pre-employment psychological evaluation tests and procedures

Abstract

Current tests and procedures commonly employed in criminal justice system pre-employment psychological screenings in the southeastern United States were surveyed. Twenty complete data sets were obtained at the 2005 annual meeting of the Consortium of Police Psychologists. Survey respondents provide pre-employment psychological evaluations for 478 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Approximately 55 percent of the psychologists used semi-structured/structured interview forms/questionnaires completed by the applicant. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (Hathaway & McKinley, 1991), the Inwald Personality Inventory (Inwald, 1979), and the California Personality Inventory (Gough, 1994) are used at more than 50 percent of the agencies. The Wonderlic Personnel Test (Wonderlic, 1992) is used at 49 percent of the agencies.