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Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_55-1

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P
Personality Assessment
Questionnaire (PAQ)
Ronald P. Rohner and Sumbleen Ali
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
Synonyms
Adult personality assessment questionnaire; Child
personality assessment questionnaire
Definition
The Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)
is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess
seven personality dispositions known to be asso-
ciated worldwide with the experience of interper-
sonal acceptance and rejection. These dispositions
include: (1) hostility and aggression, including
physical aggression, verbal aggression, passive
aggression, and problems with the management
of hostility and aggression, (2) dependence,
(3) self-esteem, (4) self-adequacy, (5) emotional
responsiveness, (6) emotional stability, and
(7) worldview. Collectively the seven PAQ scales
constitute a composite measure of respondents’
overall psychological adjustment.
# Springer International Publishing AG 2016
V. Zeigler-Hill, T.K. Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_55-1
Introduction
Structure of the PAQ. Two versions of the
PAQ are available: the Adult PAQ and the Child
PAQ. Both are written in the present tenses and
ask respondents to reflect on their true – not their
ideal or wished-for – feelings about themselves.
The two versions are almost identical except that
the adult version contains 63 items (nine items per
scale), whereas the child version contains 42 items
(six items per scale). The standard 63-item adult
version of the PAQ is also available in a short form
of 42 items.
Sample items on the Child PAQ include the
following:
“I think about fighting or being mean” (hostility/
aggression).
“I like my parents to make a fuss over me when
I am hurt or sick” (dependence).
“I like myself” (positive self-esteem).
“I can compete successfully for the things I want”
(positive self-adequacy).
“It is easy for me to show my friends that I really
like them” (emotional responsiveness).
“I am cheerful and happy one minute and gloomy
or unhappy the next” (emotional instability).
“I think the world is a good, happy place”
(positive worldview).
Sample items on the Adult PAQ include the
following:
2 Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)
“I feel resentment against people” (hostility/
aggression).
“I like to be given encouragement when I have
trouble with something” (dependence).
“I get disgusted with myself” (negative self-
esteem).
“I think I am a failure” (negative self-adequacy).
“I feel I have trouble making and keeping close,
intimate friends” (emotional responsiveness).
“Small set backs upset me a lot” (emotional
instability).
“I view the universe as a threatening, dangerous
place” (negative worldview).
Response Options and Scoring the PAQ
Individuals respond to items on a 4-point Likert-
type scale ranging from (4) “almost always true of
me” to (1) “almost never true of me.” A profile of
an individual’s overall self-reported psychologi-
cal adjustment is achieved by summing the seven
scale scores. Both versions of the PAQ utilize the
same response options and scoring system, thus
maximizing direct comparability between ver-
sions. It is easy to hand score the PAQ following
these instructions, but it is even easier, much less
time-consuming, and often more accurate to use
the software program PARScore 6 (an online scor-
ing system available from Rohner Research Pub-
lications or through the Rohner Center; csiar.
uconn.edu) to score the PAQ. Typically,
researchers and practitioners find it useful to
make an overall assessment of the psychological
adjustment of respondents. This is achieved by
summing the seven scale scores to form an overall
or composite test score. For details refer to the
PAQ Test Manual, in Rohner and Khaleque 2005.
Computerized scoring procedures can streamline
the process to a considerable degree.
Psychometric Properties of the PAQ
Extensive evidence shows that both versions of
the PAQ are reliable and valid for use in national
and international research. For example, a meta-
analysis of 51 studies worldwide revealed that the
overall mean-weighted effect size of coefficient
alpha on the Child PAQ was .83. On the Adult
PAQ, it was .86 (Khaleque and Rohner 2002).
Test–retest reliability across time periods ranging
from 1 to 18 months for the Child PAQ was shown
to be .61; test–retest reliability across time periods
of 6 to 12 months for the Adult PAQ was shown to
be .76. Additional reliability and validity evidence
is summarized in Rohner and Chaki-Sircar
(1988), Rohner and Khaleque (2005), and
elsewhere.
Use of the PAQ
The PAQ has been used for more than four
decades with tens of thousands of children and
adults in the USA and internationally. It is avail-
able in 37 different languages and dialects
(Rohner 2016). Most often it is used in conjunc-
tion with the Parental Acceptance-Rejection
Questionnaire (PARQ, described in this volume
in the context of research drawing from interper-
sonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory).
IPARTheory is an evidence-based theory of
socialization and lifespan development that aims
to predict and explain major consequences and
other correlates of interpersonal (especially paren-
tal) acceptance-rejection worldwide (Rohner
1986, 2004, 2016). It is used extensively in
research, clinical settings, schools, and in other
applied contexts.
Conclusion
The PAQ (both child and adult versions) is the
product of a long tradition of research and devel-
opment efforts to maintain and enhance the empir-
ical foundations of the instrument. The measures
have been translated and used across a broad
range of cultures throughout the world, including
the USA, and they have proven to be effective
with individuals of various ethnic backgrounds.
The measures are widely used for research, mental
health screening, and policy implications.
Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ)
Cross-References
▶ Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire
(PARQ)
References
Khaleque, A., & Rohner, R. P. (2002). Reliability of mea-
sures assessing the relation between perceived parental
acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment:
Meta-analysis of cross-cultural and intracultural stud-
ies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 87–99.
Rohner, R. P. (1986). The warmth dimension: Foundations
of parental acceptance-rejection theory. Beverly Hills:
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Sage (Available as e-book from Rohner Research Pub-
lications, Storrs).
Rohner, R. P. (2004). The parental “acceptance-rejection
syndrome”: Universal correlates of perceived rejection.
American Psychologist, 59, 827–840.
Rohner, R. P. (2016). Introduction to interpersonal accep-
tance rejection theory (IPARTheory), methods, evi-
dence, and implications. Retrieved from http://csiar.
uconn.edu/
Rohner, R. P., & Chaki-Sircar, M. (1988). Women and
children in a Bengali village. Hanover: University
Press of New England.
Rohner, R. P., & Khaleque, A. (Eds.). (2005). Handbook
for the study of parental acceptance and rejection
(4th ed.). Storrs: Rohner Research Publications.