Correspondence of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) and the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY) in Juvenile Offenders

ABSTRACT

This study examined the correspondence between the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) and the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY) in a sample of 105 incarcerated juvenile offenders. Intercorrelations between MACI and PIY scales ranged from −.66 to .67; 191 (79%) of the 243 correlations were statistically significant (p < .05). However, diagnostic correspondence between the two instruments was modest, with kappa coefficients for five pairs of conceptually similar scales (e.g., MACI Delinquent Predisposition and PIY Delinquency) ranging from .04 to .48. Surprisingly, most juvenile offenders did not obtain clinically significant elevations on the MACI (32) or PIY (19) delinquency scales. We caution clinicians about the different findings that result from the choice of self-report instrument to assess juvenile offenders.

KEYWORDS:

• Juvenile offenders
• forensic psychology
• psychological assessment
• MACI
• PIY