Validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory for Forensic Assessments

The utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for forensic assessments was investigated in a sample of 127 adult male forensic psychiatric patients. Theoretically relevant PAI scales & subscales were used as predictors of criterion variables of violence, lifetime diagnosis of psychosis, & lifetime diagnosis of personality disorder. Moderate support for the validity of the PAI was found, in that theoretically relevant PAI (sub)scales tended to predict criterion variables. Suicidality is included among PAI descriptive characteristics. (27 refs)