Factor analysis of the Personality Assessment Inventory in service members with traumatic brain injury

To identify the factor structure of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) clinical scales for military service members with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Retrospective analysis of existing data base.

The sample included 210 service members with TBI who completed the PAI as part of a neuropsychological evaluation at a military TBI clinic. Statistical analysis included exploratory factor analysis of 214 items of the 11 PAI clinical scales.

Exploratory factor analysis indicated a four-factor solution accounting for 30.4% of the variance in scores. A review of the face validity of the items from each factor generated the following factor labels: Somatic/Psychiatric/Cognitive Distress, Social Distress, Substance Misuse, and Depression.

The PAI appears to assess general distress (i.e., somatic/psychiatric/cognitive) and substance misuse constructs for both psychiatric and TBI populations, but it also appears to assess a "social distress" construct (i.e., difficulties socializing in both military and civilian populations) that is unique to military populations. Suggestions are offered to re-conceptualize PAI clinical scales specific to psychopathology (i.e., schizophrenia, paranoia, mania, borderline, antisocial) and personality disorders (i.e., borderline, antisocial) in terms of neurologic and military specific issues for service members with TBI.