An Examination of Positive Impression Management Validity Scales in the Context of Parenting Capacity Assessments

Although professionals conducting parenting capacity assessments (PCAs) frequently rely on test validity scales to measure parental efforts at social desirability, very limited data is available on their performance. The current study found strong concurrent validity between the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) validity scales. Results were also consistent with previous studies that suggest parents engage in some level of impression management. However, the PAI appeared to identify far fewer parents as engaging in positive impression management when compared to the MCMI-III or what has been published in previous studies on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). Future directions and recommendations regarding the use of validity scales in PCAs are provided.