IngentaConnect The Personality Assessment Inventory Borderline, Drug, and Alcoho...

Authors: Weiss, Peter¹; Hitchcock, John²; Weiss, William³; Rostow, Cary⁴; Davis, Robert⁴

Source: Policing and Society, Volume 18, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 301-310(10)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Previous studies have established the utility of self-report personality inventories in the pre-employment screening of police officers. The present study therefore sought to explore the relationship between the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Borderline, Drug, and Alcohol Scales and performance as a police officer. The PAI results of 632 police officers who took the test as part of pre-employment screening procedures were used in discriminant function and multiple regression analyses to determine whether or not these scales are useful in the pre-employment screening of police officers. These scales did not predict performance as a police officer when the entire sample of 632 was used. However, the Borderline Negative Relations subscale combined with the Drug scale of the PAI were marginally predictive of the 132 poorest performing officers in the sample when an exploratory stepwise multiple regression model was used. The implications of these findings for police selection are discussed.

Keywords: Personality Assessment Inventory; police

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/10439460802091708

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, USA 2: Caliber, an ICF International Company, Vienna, VA, USA 3: Department of Psychology, University of Evansville, IN, USA 4: Matrix, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA, USA

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The Personality Assessment Inventory Borderline, Drug, and Alcohol Scales as predictors of overall performance in police officers: a series of exploratory analyses