Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) (Derogatis, 1975, 1993) is often utilized as an intake screener for psychiatric symptoms with a variety of populations. The present study evaluated the internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the BSI-18 when compared to similar subscales, including Somatization (SOM), Anxiety (ANX), and Depression (DEP), and dissimilar subscales, including Nonsupport (NON), Drug Problems (DRG), and Alcohol Problems (ALC), on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) to determine its clinical utility in communicating clients’ level of distress in an outpatient clinical sample. The results indicated that Global Severity Index (GSI) scores of the BSI and BSI-18 were not significantly different, and the BSI-18 has high internal consistency within all three subscales (α = .86). The BSI-18 also exhibited moderate convergent validity with similar PAI subscales (r = .53-.63, p < .001). The BSI-18 SOM and ANX subscales demonstrated adequate discriminant validity when compared to dissimilar scales (r = .05-.15, p > .05) apart from one weak correlation between ANX and NON (r = .18, p < .05). However, the BSI-18 DEP subscale did not exhibit discriminant validity as DEP was significantly correlated with the dissimilar PAI subscales (r = .19-.34, p < .05), which could be due to the comorbidity with other disorders. Overall, these findings support the BSI-18’s efficacy as a psychometrically sound and shorter alternative to the full-form BSI in evaluating global distress and specific somatic, depressive, and anxiety-related symptoms.

Year manuscript completed

2025

Year degree awarded

2025

Author's Keywords

Brief Symptom Inventory, Personality Assessment Inventory, short form, construct validity, internal consistency

Degree Awarded

Master of Science

Department

Psychology

College/School

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Thesis Advisor

Laura Liljequist

Committee Chair

Laura Liljequist

Committee Member

Amanda Joyce

Committee Member

Esther Malm

Committee Member

Angie Trzepacz

Document Type

Thesis

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