Validity indices for the Heston Personal Adjustment Inventory

Abstract

For a sample of 88 female freshmen, scores on the Heston PAI were correlated with ratings (faculty, counselor, dormitory head) on six personality traits named after the Heston scales, and raters were asked to note certain types of behavior considered symptomatic of difficulty in adjustment to college. "The correlations… indicative of association between trait scores and faculty ratings are considerably lower than similar indices reported from other studies cited in the… Manual… . Further, the inventory failed to discriminate between students who seemed to have considerable difficulty adjusting to college and those who did not… one must conclude that the… Inventory is of limited practical value for predicting adjustment to college life." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)