Welcome to Psychological Assessment .org, an Interactive, Online Professional Community

PsychologicalAssessment.org is a resource for psychological testing professionals (both those in practice and still learning as students) to discuss test interpretation, construction and any other issues involved in psychological evaluations. It is not simply an online journal, but it is also not just another static collection of links or another basic mailing list or discussion forum. While it is important to protect test items and content and uphold APA ethics code standards and priciples, this can be done in the public setting (such as information available in a public library).

Using simple blogging software which allows users to create a community blog, anyone who can read and type on a keyboard can post messages, articles, or respond to "published" opinions in the blog through comments or posts of their own. Keep in mind there are multiple categories so you can read the most recent posts, but also click on the categories you may be interested in to read and comment on posts related to those topics (also choose relevant categories when you post). Feel free to add your link to your website or offer relevant link suggestions, print published article suggestions, book or book chapter suggestions, etc. Though the commenting feature isn't exactly peer review, please try to communicate politely and professionaly when possible- its not generally intended or expected that posts would replace a published journal article such as from the American Psychological Association's "Psychological Assessment," nor should you consider the discussions necessarily peer-reviewed or having cleared any peer review process other than submitting opinions, original "articles," questions, concerns and issues for public comment. Once submitted your blog posts become public domain and this site gives permission to distribute them freely as long as the original source is cited. No copyright material can be posted unless you're clearly the owner with permission to post it. Psychologist Dr. Todd Finnerty will moderate the posts if any get too far in to the crazy spam world, but otherwise please feel free to express yourself. Psychologists, Psychometricians, counselors and anyone else interested in psychological testing are welcome to join us.

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Stay up to date with recent journal articles from Psychological Assessment

 Psychological Assessment - Vol 24, Iss 1 Updated : Sat, 19 May 2012 14:00:30 EST A comparison of the psychometric properties of the psychopathic personality inventory full-length and short-form versions. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) has shown promising construct validity as a measure of psychopathy. Because of its relative efficiency, a short-form version of the PPI (PPI–SF) was developed and has proven useful in many psychopathy studies. The validity of the PPI–SF, however, has not been thoroughly examined, and no studies have directly compared the validity of the short form with that of the full-length version. The current study was designed to compare the psychometric properties of both PPI versions, with an emphasis on convergent and discriminant validity in predicting external criteria conceptually relevant to psychopathy. We used both prison (n = 558) and college samples (n = 322) for this investigation. PPI scale scores were more reliable and more strongly correlated with the conceptually relevant criterion measures compared with the PPI–SF, particularly in the prison sample. There were no differences in relative discriminant validity. Thus, overall, the PPI full-length version showed more evidence of construct validity than did the short form, and the consequences of this psychometric difference should be considered when evaluating the clinical utility of each measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Adolescents with suicidal and nonsuicidal self-harm: Clinical characteristics and response to therapeutic assessment. Self-harm is one of the best predictors of death by suicide, but few studies directly compare adolescents with suicidal versus nonsuicidal self-harm. Seventy adolescents presenting with self-harm (71% young women, ages 12–18 years) who participated in a randomized controlled trial were divided into suicidal and nonsuicidal self-harm categories using the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment. Adolescents with suicidal self-harm were more likely than those with nonsuicidal self-harm to be young women, 22/23 (96%) versus 34/47 (72%), odds ratio (OR) = 8.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.03, 50.0]; had a later age of onset of self-harm, 15.4 years vs. 13.8 years, mean difference = 1.6, 95% CI [.8, 2.43]; and used self-poisoning more often, 18/23 (78%) versus 11/47 (23%), OR = 3.43, 95% CI [2.00, 5.89]. Only those with nonsuicidal self-harm had an improvement on Children's Global Assessment Scale score following a brief therapeutic intervention, mean difference = 8.20, 95% CI [.97, 15.42]. However, there was no interaction between treatment and suicidality. There are important differences between adolescents presenting with suicidal and nonsuicidal self-harm. Suicidal self-harm in adolescence may be associated with a less favorable response to therapeutic assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) The implications of symptom validity test failure for ability-based test performance in a pediatric sample. If an examinee exerts inadequate effort to perform well during a psychological or neuropsychological exam, the resulting data will represent an inaccurate representation of the individual's true abilities and difficulties. In adult populations, methodologies to identify noncredible effort have grown exponentially in the last 2 decades. Though a comparatively modest amount of work has focused on tools to identify noncredible effort in pediatric populations, recent research has demonstrated that children can consistently pass several stand-alone symptom validity tests (SVTs) using cutoffs established with adults. However, no identified studies have examined the implications of pediatric SVT failure for ability-based test performance. The current sample consisted of 276 children aged 8–16 years referred consecutively for outpatient clinical neuropsychological consultation following mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). An earlier subgroup of this same case series that also included 17-year-olds was presented in Kirkwood and Kirk (2010). Nineteen percent of the current sample performed below the actuarial cutoff on the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT). No background or injury-related variable differentiated those who passed from those who failed the MSVT. Performance on the MSVT was correlated significantly with performance on all ability-based tests and explained 38% of the total ability-based test variance. Participants failing the MSVT performed significantly worse on nearly all neuropsychological tests, with large effect sizes apparent across most tests. The results provide compelling evidence that practitioners should add objective SVTs to the evaluation of school-aged youth, even when secondary gain issues might not be readily apparent and particularly following mild TBI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity of child, teacher, and peer reports of teacher–student support. This study investigated the construct validity of measures of teacher–student support in a sample of 709 ethnically diverse 2nd- and 3rd-grade academically at-risk students. Confirmatory factor analysis investigated the convergent and discriminant validities of teacher, child, and peer reports of teacher–student support and child conduct problems. Results supported the convergent and discriminant validity of scores on the measures. Peer reports accounted for the largest proportion of trait variance and nonsignificant method variance. Child reports accounted for the smallest proportion of trait variance and the largest method variance. A model with 2 latent factors provided a better fit to the data than a model with 1 factor, providing further evidence of the discriminant validity of measures of teacher–student support. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Co-occurring mental health and substance use problems in offenders: Implications for risk assessment. We undertook a secondary data analysis to study issues relevant to co-occurring mental health and substance disorder in a combined sample of offenders (N = 3,197). Using the Personality Assessment Inventory, we compared the frequency of depressive, traumatic stress, and personality disorder symptom elevations across offenders with and without substance problems, identified the extent to which co-occurring problems were accompanied by risk factors for suicide and aggression, and tested for gender differences. Offenders with substance problems were more likely than others to have increased mental health problems and risk factors for suicide or aggression. Women with substance problems, compared with men, had higher depression, traumatic stress, and borderline features, in addition to lower antisocial features. The frequency with which suicide and aggression risk factors were associated with mental health problems was generally similar across men and women. Measurement issues relevant to co-occurring disorder and risk assessment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) helpforhomeowners.org voyagemortgageloans.com

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Try this site for information on finding a particular psychological test, including New Psychological tests recently introduced or coming out soon like the WAIS-IV, WMS-IV and MMPI-2-RF. There is also a nice selection of books featured including a number focused on the assessment of malingering and somatization (check out the slideshow).

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