Relationships between CATI personality disorder variables and measures of academic performance

Abstract

The present report offers predictive and construct validation data concerning the use of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (CATI) personality disorder scales in predicting academic difficulties. The CATI has been found to exhibit sound psychometric properties with promise for extending personality disorder research into broader nonclinical populations. Predictive validation of the various CATI personality disorder scales with specific behavioral, cognitive or emotional correlates of maladaptive functioning, other than diagnostic probabilities, remains to be established and represents a central challenge to the continued vitality of this new assessment inventory. Four academic performance variables (high school GPA, cumulative college GPA, classroom attendance, standardized course grade) were selected as important indices of adaptive functioning, particularly in the cognitive and behavioral realms. A total of 313 valid CATI profiles were provided by a sample of college students enrolled in various undergraduate psychology courses. T -scores in excess of 59 for the antisocial scale provided a simple predictor of high school and college academic performance deficits. The compulsive, dependent and avoidant personality disorder scales provided favorable indicators, depending upon the outcome measure examined. These results were generally consistent with the previous MCMI-II findings of King, and the practical and theoretical implications of the present results were discussed within the context of a broader literature involving the use of personality disorder inventories.