Identifying Victims of Abuse Using the Personality Inventory for Children: I. Applications for Adolescent Runaways

The physical and sexual abuse of children and adolescents has been gaining attention as a national problem of social and clinical significance. In this study a model was developed in order to identify abuse (victimization) in an adolescent population (n=52). Four scales (Adjustment, Delinquency, Family Relations, and Anxiety) of the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) correctly classified 90.4% of the criterion group with only 9.6% misclassified. Over 97% of the control sample (non-victims) were correctly classified with only 2.6% being misclassified. The model was cross-validated with a sample of adolescent runaways. Ninety-five percent of the allegedly abused runaways were correctly classified with only 5% misclassified. The reliability of the model was further bolstered by the finding that the PIC scale profile of the adolescent victims, whose abuse had been substantiated, was not significantly different from the alleged runaways' PIC scale profile. The findings lend support for establishing a psychologically oriented assessment component within programs that work with runaways, and for taking a pro-active position toward abuse. Two tables present data. Contains 33 references. (Author/TS)