Adlerian Research Tools
Compiled by J. Slava Thaler (2002)
For each of the following research tools, the following information is included (when available): Name of tool, Author(s), Date tool was published, Description of tool, Main use(s) of tool, Pros and cons of tool. Within each section, tools are listed by publication year.
BASIS-A, (Wheeler, Kern, & Curlette), 1993, “quick and dirty” Lifestyle, contains five major themes/subscales: Belonging-Social Interest, Going Along, Taking Charge, Wanting Recognition, and Being Cautious. Five additional subscales are H (Harshness), E (Entitlement), L (Liked by all), P (Striving for Perfection), S (Softness). Pros : fairly quick and easy, has normative group and is standardized, reliable/valid, one of Adlerian Psychology’s most well-researched and developed tools. Cons : Not as accurate as an actual Lifestyle assessment, need to understand the tool to be able to utilize results.
Social Interest Tools
Social Interest Index (SII), (Greever, Tseng, Freedland), 1973, 32-questions on a 5-point summated scale, which contains a total score of social interest as well as 4 subscales which measure the life tasks (friendship, love, work, self-significance).
Sulliman Scale of Social Interest (SSSI) [sometimes called Scale of Social Interest, or SSI], (Sulliman), 1973, 50 true/false statements, three scales including the main social interest scale, SSSI-1 (which measures the amount of concern and trust in others), and SSSI-2 (which measures “confidence in oneself and optimism in one’s view of the world” (Kaplan, 1991)); this tool has been tested for validity.
Social Interest Scale (SIS), (Crandall), 1975/1991, 24 pairs of personal traits (15 of the pairs are tested and 9 used as a “buffer”), of which participant chooses the one which most closely represents them, in order to “test” the social interest of an individual; tool is standardized and has been tested for validity/reliability.
Tavis Measure of Social Interest, (Tavis), 1990, Test to measure social interest (similar to SSSI and SIS), but little statistical data/validity exist for this tool. The tool integrates the Basic Beliefs Inventory (BBI), (Richardson & Wicker), 1990, which measures “relative degrees of communitarian versus individualistic orientation toward social values and social participation” (Tavis, 1990). The tool also uses the Reactivity Index (Davis), 1980.
Group Psychotherapy Social Interest Scale (Gottesfeld), 1991, 31-item scale which measures the social interest of a group psychotherapy participant; small-scale reliability and validity of scale was done.
Lifestyle Tools (Note : Full Lifestyle Assessments that aren’t meant to be used specifically as research tools are not included.)
Self-Administering Life Style Inventory (SALSI), (West, Bubenzer), 1978, 137-item questionnaire used to ascertain a lifestyle, reliability and factor analysis studies were done.
Self-Administered Life Style Analysis (SALSA), (Watkins), 1982, instrument designed to elicit lifestyle information, more specifically around one’s personal views, approach to life-tasks, relationship with parents/siblings, and personal ER’s.
Lifestyle Personality Inventory Social Interest Index (LSPISII), (Wheeler, Kern, Curlette), 1982; precursor to the BASIS-A.
Child Life Style Scale (CLSS), (Stiles, Wilborn), 1992, 90-item scale which measures life style in six themes : pleasing, rebelling, getting, controlling, inadequacy, and socially useful.
Kern Lifestyle Scale (KLS), (Kern), 1995, 35-item self-scoring assessment to “measure” a lifestyle, tool gives scores on five scales: Control, Perfection, Need to Please, Self-Esteem, and Expectations.
Work Style Assessment (WSA), (White, Page), 2001, a lifestyle assessment geared toward work issues; this is the first tool which gears lifestyle toward organizational settings. This is a young tool so it is not yet fully developed and tested.
Lifestyle Self-Assessment (Eckstein, Kern), 2002, 3-part instrument which measures lifestyle; tool has been standardized.
Early Recollection Tools
Early Recollection Questionnaire, (Rule) 1972, questionnaire which asks for 6 ER’s before the age of eight, and includes an external rating system [Early Recollection Rating Scale of Social Interest Characteristics (Altman’s scales); 7-point scale on 9 items : withdrawn vs. gregarious, passive vs. active, aggressive/hostile vs. benevolent/kind, mistreated vs. befriended/treated well, threatening/frustrating vs. friendly/nurturing, rejecting vs. accepting, inferiority vs. self-confidence, depressing vs. cheerful, dependent vs. independent] for systematic scoring the ER’s.
Early Recollection Scoring Manual (Manaster, Perryman), 1974, manual frequently used for systematically scoring ERs.
Other Adlerian Tools
Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS), (Crowne, Marlow), 1964, measures “socially desirable responses” through 33 true/false questions; validity tests have been done on this scale.
SEI (Coopersmith), 1967, or the Tennessee Self-Concept scale (Fitts), 1964, are scales to measure one’s self-concept.
16 Personality Factor Test (16PF), (Cattell), 1970, tests personality and trait characteristics of an individual.
Helping Dispositions Scale (HDS), (Severy), 1975, 55 items grouped into 14 composite indicators, which rate one’s predisposition to “help”.
Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), (Sherer Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacob, Rogers), 1982, 30-item (5-point) scale that measures an individual’s perceptions about his or her own ability to complete a behavior successfully. The General Self-Efficacy (GSE) subscale has an internal consistency of 0.86, and is also reliable and validated.
Langenfeld Inventory or Personality Priorities (LIPP), (Langenfeld, Main), 1983, 100-item inventory used to measure personality priority constructs in 4 areas (pleasing, achieving, outdoing, avoiding), statistical analysis done on test.
Praise-Encouragement Preference Scale (PEPS), (Pety, Kelly, Kafafy), 1984, scale which interprets 16 parent/child interactions on praise and encouragement; validity and reliability done on scale.
Coping Resources Inventory for Stress (CRIS), (Matheny, Curlette), 1987, 280-item inventory which measures ability to cope with stress; this tool has been tested for validity and reliability.
White-Campbell Psychological Birth Order Inventory (PBOI), (Campbell, White, Stewart), 1991, test which uncovers the psychological birth order through true-false statements that reflect each of the birth order positions (first, middle, youngest, and only); reliability and replicability of test has been shown.
Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), (Hewitt, Flett), 1991, 15-item scale which measures perfectionism in 3 subscales : self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism.
Activity Scale, (Murphy), 1994, 10-item (7-point) scale which measures activity level, and how activity manifests itself in everyday life; split-half reliability of scale of 0.83.
Almost Perfect Scale -Revised (Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, Johnson), 1996, Scale used to measures the relationship between social interest and perfectionism.
Tools specific to parenting
Attitude Toward Child Rearing Scale (ATCRS), (Croake, Hinkle), 1978, measures the effectiveness of Adlerian Parent Study Groups, scale consists of 40 statements (5-point scale) selected from the book “Children: The Challenge” by Dreikurs and Soltz, in order to measure the intensity of democratic and authoritarian attitudes held by parents, test-retest reliability is 0.9084, alpha is 0.8837. Scale was designed to replace the AFTC-II (Freeman, 1971).
Child Rearing Practices Scales (CRPS), (Freeman, Croake, Hinkle), 1978, 27-item (5-point) scale which evaluates the behavior of released mental patients, scale is meant to be completed by a “parent selected” observer, and completed over a one-week period of time, test-retest reliability is 0.7635, and alpha is 0.8574.
Children’s Behavior Checklist (CBC), (Freeman, Croake, Hinkle), 1978, 58-item (4-point) scale which measures the behavior patterns of a school-age child over a one-week period, allowing parents to record observable behavior of the child in the family atmosphere, test-retest reliability exists for the subscales (CBC1 and CBC2).
Four-R rating scale (Pratt), 1984, rates responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, and responsiveness on a 5-point scale of very pleased to very displeased.
Encouragement Scale for Children, (Dagley, Dagley), 1994, measures the degree of encouragement (versus discouragement) that a child experiences.
Adlerian Parental Assessment of Child Behavior Scale (Gary D. McKay), Tool assesses the parent's observations on behavior changes in their child (based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting method), this is a subjective tool, not used for independent observers.
Adlerian Parental Assessment of Teen Behavior Scale (Gary D. McKay), Tool assesses the parent's observations on behavior changes in their teen (based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting method), this is a subjective tool, not used for independent observers.
Children’s Apperceptive Storytelling Test (Schneider), Age range: 6-13 years, the test evaluates emotional functioning : adaptive/non adaptive, immature, uninvested.
Semi-Adlerian Tools (tools not specifically Adlerian, but used in Adlerian Research) : Attitude Toward the Freedom of Children Scale (ATFC-II), (Shaw, Wright), 1967, Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI), (Schaefer, Bell), 1969, both tools measure parental attitudes such as freedom, equality, independence, and encouragement (Moore, Dean-Zubritsky, JIP 35:2), Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), (Buri), 1991, 30-item questionnaire which measures that measures how authoritative a parenting style is in 3 subscales.
Tools specific to marriage
Marital Self-Evaluation (MSE), (Dinkmeyer, Carlson), 1984, 10-point scale ranging from positive to negative that evaluates a marriage.
Semi-Adlerian Marriage Tools (tools not specifically Adlerian, but used in Adlerian Research)
Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), (Bem), 1974, 60-item inventory (7-point scale) which measures sex roles through 3 types of personality characteristics : those judged more desirable for women than men, those judged more desirable for men than women, and neutral ones; validity and reliability done on scale.
Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), (Spanier), 1976, 32-item questionnaire that measures the quality of a marital relationship. Scale has reliability and validity measures.
Relationship Change Scale (RCS), (Guerney), 1977, 27-item questionnaire which is sensitive to (and measures) changes in quality of a relationship.
Marital Communication Inventory (MCI), (Vienvenu), 1978, 46-item inventory which helps couples report about their communications.
Semi-Adlerian Tools (tools not specifically Adlerian, but used in Adlerian Research)
Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (Levenson). 1974, 24-question (six-point) scale which measures internal locus of control, and two forms of external locus of control : external control by powerful others, and external control by chance.
Barclay Classroom Climate Inventory (BCCI), (Barclay), 1978, measures classroom climate in 6 general areas : Self-competencies, group perceptions, vocational awareness/interests, teacher perceptions, behavioral interests, and “multi-factors”.
Life Experiences Survey (THEM), (Sarason, Johnson, Siegel), 1978, surveys one’s “experiences of life”.
Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), (Jerusalem, Schwarzer), 1981, 10-question scale; this self-efficacy test measures the sense of personal competence in dealing efficiently with a variety of stressful situations. Available online in 27 languages at http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/schwarze/selfscal.htm
Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT), (Scheier, Carver), 1985, 12-item test used to measure dispositional optimism, a personality trait based on individuals' expectancies for the occurrence of good vs bad future outcomes.
Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire (LAQ), National Wellness Institute, (Elsenrath, Hettler, Leafgren), 1988, 185-item instrument designed to help individuals discover how personal lifestyle choices affect their overall level of health. The LAQ consists of four sections: (1) Personal Data, (2) Lifestyle, (3) Health Risk Appraisal, and (4) Topics for Personal Growth. The Lifestyle Inventory section determines individual level of wellness through measurement of the 11 dimensions: (1) Physical Exercise, (2) Nutrition, (3) Self-care, (4) Vehicle Safety, (5) Drug Use and Awareness, (6) Social/Environmental, (7) Emotional Awareness and Acceptance, (8) Emotional Management, (9) Intellectual, (10) Occupational, and (11) Spiritual.
State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), (Spielberger), 1996, 44-item self-report which measures anger on 2 primary dimensions : state anger (intensity of anger depending on current state), and trait anger (disposition to experience anger), consistency and reliability of test was done.
Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), (Endler, Parker), 1999, measures one’s adaptation to stressing situations.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), 567 questions that measure personality on the following clinical scales : Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression (D), Hysteris (Hy) [Neorotic Triad Configurations], Psychopathic Deviate (Pd), Masculinity-Femininity (Mf), Paranoia (Pa), Configurations, Psychasthenia (Pt), Schizophrenia (Sc), Configurations, Hypomania (Ma), Social Introversion (Si). It also includes content scales and supplementary scales, including Personality Disorder Scales, Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales, Suicide Scales, and Psychotic-Neurotic Indexes. The MMPI is one of the most researched tools in psychology.
A comprehensive list of psychology-related tools (mostly non-Adlerian) may be accessed online at http://library.pittstate.edu/ref/psych/a.html
Complied by J. Slava Thaler (2002)
If you have information about other Adlerian Research Tools (both historically and presently used), or would like to locate any of the tools on this list, please contact J. Slava Thaler at sthaler@reachapex.com, or 612-242-4536.
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