Relationship between the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI) and the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) in a community sample

Using a sample of 144 mature students, aged 18-53 years, attending a high s chool upgrading program, the screening properties of the Holden Psychologic al Screening Inventory (HPSI) and the correspondence of the HPSI to the Bas ic Personality Inventory (BPI) were evaluated. Correlations between the HPS I and the BPI scales and joint factor analysis of these two inventories dem onstrated the validity of HPSI scales and their sampling adequacy from the major components of psychopathology measured by the BPI. Using the BPI as t he "Gold Standard," the HPSI has almost perfect specificity but the sensiti vity of the HPSI is only about 50% at a T-score of 60, whereas at T = 55, t he sensitivity is 70%, with a specificity of almost 80%. Overall, results i ndicated that the three HPSI scales distinctly measure the three major fact ors of the BPI, and the HPSI has considerable utility as a screening tool.