COMPUTERIZED VERSUS STANDARD PERSONALITY MEASURES - EQUIVALENCY, COMPUTER ANXIETY, AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

Undergraduate students were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Purpose in Life Test (PIL) in either paper-and-pencil or co mputer-administered format. Prior to administration, all subjects comp leted the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), State-Trait Anxiety In ventory (STAI), and the Phobos Mathematics Anxiety Inventory (PHOBOS) in their original paper-and-pencil formats. For those subjects who rec eived the personality tests via computer administration, high CARS sco res were associated with higher BDI scores and lower PIL scores, even when state, trait, and mathematics anxiety were partialled out. The re sults suggest that standardized normative distributions on personality tests may not be applicable to computerized personality tests (CPT).