An Exploration of the Validity of the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY) as a Potential Screener for Intellectual Disability, Reading Disability, and Attentional Impairment

This study examined the criterion validity of youth self-report of cognitive, learning, and attentional capacities on the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY). The utility of the PIY Cognitive Impairment (COG) and Impulsivity and Distractibility (ADH) scales as screeners for intellectual disability, reading disability, and attentional impairment was explored. Data was drawn from a sample of 1134 youth ages 9 to 18 from an inpatient psychiatric hospital who completed the PIY. Unlike the other PIY COG scales, elevations on the Learning Problems Subscale (COG3) significantly predicted the presence of limited intellectual ability (IQ\u3c80) and intellectual disability (IQ\u3c70) with moderate classification accuracy.ROC curve analyses revealed that PIY COG scales had poor ability to classify those with reading disability and PIY ADHD scales showed poor ability to classify those with attention impairment.As expected, ratings on the COG scales were significantly negatively associated with continuous scores on objective measures of intellectual functioning. Greater endorsement of Learning Problems (PIY COG3) and Cognitive Impairment (PIY COG) was associated with lower scores on a measure of reading achievement. Ratings on the PIY ADH scales were significantly negatively associated with continuous scores on some objective measures of attentional functioning.Results indicate theLearning Problems (COG3) subscale has potential utility as a screener for limited IQ or intellectual disability. Additionally, youth appear able, to some extent, to gauge their own reading and attentional abilities and report on them in a forthright manner on the PIY; however, their report becomes less accurate when deficits rise to the level of reading disability or attentional impairment