Skip to main content

Psychological and Personality Testing

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Assessment inventories; Geriatric assessment; Personality measurement; Psychodiagnostic measurement tools; Psychological evaluation; Psychological inventories

Definition

Psychological testing refers to the evaluation and identification of measurable behaviors using assessment tools. Psychological testing is often utilized to supplement a clinical psychological evaluation; however, psychological testing can also encompass broader interests, including educational and achievement testing, vocational testing, and intellectual testing. Individual tests are not suitable for diagnosing patients; rather, testing is used to provide quantifiable measurements of certain behaviors in order to complement a full evaluation (Edelstein et al. 2008; Lichtenberg 2010). In the geriatric population, psychological testing is generally used for psychodiagnostic clinical purposes (Segal et al. 1998). There can be a variety of reasons for psychological evaluations in a clinical setting for a...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acierno, R., Lawyer, S. R., Rheingold, A., Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H. S., & Saunders, B. E. (2007). Current psychopathology in previously assaulted older adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 250–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagby, R. M., Ryder, A. G., Schuller, D. R., & Marshall, M. B. (2004). The Hamilton depression rating scale: Has the gold standard become a lead weight? American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 2163–2177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Porath, Y. S. (2012). Interpreting the MMPI-2-RF. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deeken, J. F., Yalor, K. L., Mangan, P., Yabroff, K. R., & Ingham, J. M. (2003). Care for the caregivers: A review of self-report instruments developed to measure the burden, needs, and quality of life of informal caregivers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 26, 4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edelstein, B. A., Woodhead, E. L., Segal, D. L., Heisel, M. J., Bower, E. H., Lowery, A. J., & Stoner, S. A. (2008). Older adults psychological assessment. Clinical Gerontologist, 31(3), 1–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flack, W. F., Litz, B. T., Weathers, F. W., & Beaudreau, S. A. (2002). Assessment and Diagnosis fo PTSD in Adults: A comprehensive psychological approach. In M. B. Williams & J. F. Sommer (Eds.), Simple and complex post-traumatic stress disorder: Strategies for comprehensive treatment in clinical practice (pp. 9–19). Binghamton: The Haworth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, R. L. (2011). The MMPI-2/MMPI-2-RF: An interpretive manual (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. (1959). The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32, 50–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyer, L. A., & Sohnle, S. J. (2001). Trauma among older people: Issues and treatment. Ann Arbor: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H. G., Westlund, R. E., George, L. K., Hughes, D. C., Blazer, D. G., & Hybels, C. (1993). Abbreviating the Duke Social Support Index for use in chronically ill elderly individuals. Psychosomatics, 34(1), 61–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogan, J. N., Edelstein, B. A., & McKee, D. R. (2000). Assessment of anxiety in older adults: Current Status. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 14(2), 109–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenberg, P. A. (2010). Introduction. In P. A. Lichtenberg (Ed.), Handbook of assessment in clinical gerontology (pp. x–xvii). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maier, W., Buller, R., Philipp, M., & Heuser, I. (1988). The Hamilton Anxiety Scale: reliability, validity and sensitivity to change in anxiety and depressive disorders. Journal of affective disorders, 14(1), 61–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, A. E., Segal, D. L., Gavett, B., Marty, M. A., Yochim, B., June, A., & Coolige, F. L. (2014). Geriatric anxiety scale: Item response theory analysis, differential item functioning, and creation of a ten-item short (GAS-10). International Psychogeriatrics, 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peretz, C., Herman, T., Hausdorff, J. H., & Giladi, N. (2006). Assessing fear of falling: Can a short version of the activities-specific balance confidence scale be useful? Movement Disorders, 21(12), 2101–2105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, B. A., & Inguito, P. L. (2011). The resilience scale: Psychometric properties and clinical applicability in older adults. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 25(1), 11–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segal, D. L., Coolidge, F. L., & Hersen, M. (1998). Psychological testing of older people. In I. H. Nordhus, R. Gary, S. Berg, & P. Fromholt (Eds.), Clinical geropsychology (pp. 231–257). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Shear, M. K., Vander Bilt, J., Rucci, P., Endicott, J., Lydiard, B., Otto, M. W., et al. (2001). Reliability and validity of a structured interview guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (SIGH-A). Depression and anxiety, 13(4), 166–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, M. A., Beck, J. G., & Zebb, B. J. (1996). Psychometric properties of four anxiety measures in older adults. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34(10), 827–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thakur, M., & Doraiswamy, P. M. (2009). Use of the laboratory in the diagnostic workup of older adults. In D. G. Blazer & D. C. Steffens (Eds.), Textbook of geriatric psychiatrpoy (pp. 201–212). Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Therrien, Z., & Hunsely, J. (2012). Assessment of anxiety in older adults: A systematic review of commonly used measures. Aging & Mental Health, 16(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tinetti, M. E., Richman, D., & Powell, L. (1990). Falls efficacy as a measure of fear of falling. Journal of Gerontology, 45(6), 239–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tromp, A. M., Pluijm, S. M., Smit, J. H., Deeg, D. J., Bouter, L. M., & Lips, P. (2001). Fall-risk screening test: A prospective study on predictors for falls in community-dwelling elderly. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 54(8), 837–844.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, I. B., & Greene, R. L. (2008). Handbook of personality assessment. New Jersey: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windle, G., Bennet, K. M., & Noyes, J. (2011). A methodological review of resilience measurement scales. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 9, 8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaffe, K., Vittinghoff, E., Lindquist, K., et al. (2010). Post-traumatic stress disorder and risk of dementia among U.S. Veterans. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(6), 608–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeiss, A. M., Zeiss, R. A., & Davies, H. (1999). Assessment of sexual function and dysfunction in older adults. In P. A. Lichtenberg (Ed.), Handbook of assessment (pp. 270–296). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dawn La .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this entry

Cite this entry

La, D., Van Moorleghem, K., Liou-Johnson, V. (2015). Psychological and Personality Testing. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_65-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_65-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics