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Personal Experience Inventory: An Assessment of the Instrument's Validity Among a Delinquent Population in Washington State

NCJ Number
127789
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Chemical Dependency Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 15-24
Author(s)
D R Guthmann; D C Brenna
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study attempts to validate the Personal Experience Inventory (PEI) with a population of chronic delinquent adolescents institutionalized in the state of Washington.
Abstract
The PEI is one of a small number of validated instruments for assessing the level and nature of substance abuse in adolescents. A sample of 100 youths was selected from three Division of Juvenile Rehabilitation institutions. Each youth was assessed by a local substance abuse assessment specialist, and the PEI was administered to each youth. The results of the study suggest that the PEI can be a useful tool for the assessment of substance abuse among an offender population. Data were presented that indicated that the PEI substance abuse and defensiveness scores were significantly correlated to ratings by independent clinical specialists and that the magnitude of the correlations was greater than the degree to which alternative measures were correlated. In addition, several of the PEI subscales were also significantly correlated to ratings by the clinicians, providing evidence of convergent validity for these subscales. Finally, the PEI high risk subscales were strongly correlated with the general PEI chemical dependency score which indicated that these subscales appear to be measuring dimensions associated with chemical involvement. 4 tables (Author abstract modified)