Correspondence of Psychiatric Patient and Informant Ratings of Personality Traits, Temperament, and Interpersonal Problems

Psychological assessment of psychiatric patients frequently relies on self-report, yet descriptions from patients often are regarded as suspect. Investigation of agreement between reports from patients versus knowledgeable informants is critical to assessing the validity of self-ratings. Self- and i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological assessment 2002-03, Vol.14 (1), p.39-49
Main Authors: Ready, Rebecca E, Clark, Lee Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Correspondence as Topic
Female
Human
Humans
Informants
Interpersonal Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - psychology
Personality
Personality Assessment
Personality Measures
Personality Traits
Psychiatric Patients
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems
Psychopathology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Self-Assessment
Self-Report
Surveys and Questionnaires
Techniques and methods
Temperament - physiology
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Summary:Psychological assessment of psychiatric patients frequently relies on self-report, yet descriptions from patients often are regarded as suspect. Investigation of agreement between reports from patients versus knowledgeable informants is critical to assessing the validity of self-ratings. Self- and informant reports of temperament, personality traits, and interpersonal problems were collected from an adult, nonpsychotic psychiatric sample ( N = 90). The majority of patients had depressive diagnoses (62%), were female (81%), and were Caucasian (98%). Few mean-level differences between self- and informant reports were found. Self-informant agreement correlations were comparable in magnitude and variability to findings from nonclinical samples. Results suggest that the overall effect of psychopathology on self-ratings of personality traits, temperament, and interpersonal problems was minimal in the authors' patient sample. This conclusion runs counter to the intuitively appealing notion that psychopathology has a detrimental effect on self-awareness.
ISSN:1040-3590
1939-134X
DOI:10.1037/1040-3590.14.1.39