Use of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in Neuropsychological Testing of Psychiatric Outpatients

Abstract

The relationship between clinical scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and neuropsychological test results was investigated in a sample of psychiatric outpatients. Bivariate correlations showed only the Somatic Complaints scale of the PAI to be related to the Memory subscales of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Better performance on Trails A was negatively related to the Somatic Complaints (SOM), Anxiety (ANX), Depression (DEP), and Borderline Features (BOR) scales of the PAI. No combination of PAI scales was related to neuropsychological test results, and no combination of PAI scales could discriminate upper- and lower-scoring groups on RBANS Delayed Memory or RBANS Total Index scores. In addition, neuropsychological status was found to be independent of all but the SOM clinical scale of the PAI. The results of this study provide additional evidence that the PAI and neuropsychological measures provide unique and essentially nonoverlapping data.