Validity of the Basic Personality Inventory in a Correctional Setting

Abstract

This study investigates the validity of the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) with a sample of 101 adult male offenders in a medium security institution. The criterion measures consisted of self-ratings (i.e., bipolar dimensional and adjective ratings), correctional officer ratings, and institutional adjustment (i.e., contact with medical staff, verbal warnings, institutional charges, days segregated, and cell maintenance). The majority of the scales corresponded well to the self-ratings. The Denial, Persecutory Ideation, Anxiety, and Thinking Disorder scales had poor convergent and discriminant validity with the correctional officer ratings. Interpersonal Problems, Alienation, and Impulse Expression scales predicted behavioral adjustment indexes. The results are summarized in relation to the higher order factors of emotional adjustment, antisocial orientation, cognitive functioning, and social or self-perception. Overall, the BPI scales adequately measure psychopathology and adjustment within a correctional setting.