Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Scores of Lower-Socioeconomic African American and Latino Methadone Maintenance Patients

Abstract

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was administered to 229 lower-socioeconomic, methadone maintenance (MM) patients. Valid profiles were obtained from 160 subjects (70%). These indicated that the psychometric characteristics of the PAI were similar to those for the original standardization samples, except that internal consistency for the drug scale and three of seven nonclinical scales were only marginal. Comparisons of the PAI data with data obtained from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the Addiction Severity Index generally provided support for concurrent validity. The group's scores were found to differ significantly from those of a normative standardization sample on all scales, from those of a clinical standardization sample on a number of scales, and from a sample of drug dependent patients on just several scales. Few differences were found between the men and women MM subjects. On the other hand, Latino subjects, particularly the men, reported more symptomatology than African Americans.