The California Psychological Inventory and Symptomatic Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the California Psychological Inventory in placing a psychiatric patient sample along the symptomatic behavior continuum proposed by Phillips and Rabinovitch (1958). Three hypotheses were examined: 1) members of the psychiatric sample would generally score lower than the \normal\ population on which the CPI was standardized; 2) that measures from the Class II scales of the CPI would differentiate groups of symptom patterns in such a manner that individuals exhibiting higher level symptoms of \Turning Against the Self\ would score higher than those persons in the lower level symptom categories of \Avoidance of Others\ and \Turning Against Others \; 3) that the Class II CPI scales would differentiate between persons falling into the last two categories, with persons exhibiting \Avoidance\ symptoms scoring at a higher level than those who exhibit \Turning Against Others\ symptoms . Twenty-four first admission, non-organic male patients who had not been hospitalized more than six months at Larned State Hospital were subjects in this study. Each subject was administered the CPI and was categorized into one of the three symptom groups. The significance of difference between group scores was computed by the Analysis of Variance and ’t’ test (P. < .05). The first hypothesis was supported and was interpreted in terms indicating that the psychiatric sample is one which experiences significant difficulties in interpersonal behavior. The second and third hypotheses were not supported. An additional analysis of remaining CPI scales revealed that the 'Capacity for Status' scale did significantly differentiate between the “Avoidance of Others\ group and the \Self Deprivation\ and \Self Indulgence\ group.