Fielding student Billie Myers and faculty member Raymond Hawkins present at National Session 2011

Fielding Graduate University
Research Poster Session at National Session 2011
Alexandria, VA

Construct Validation of the Altman Self-Rating Scale for Mania in a Non-Clinical Population -- Billie Myers, Student, School of Psychology and Raymond Hawkins, PhD, Faculty, School of Psychology

The Altman Self-Rating Scale for Mania (ASRM: Altman, Hedeker, Peterson, & Davis, 1997) has been useful as a screening tool for the assessment of symptoms of mild and moderate mania. Despite its good validity and reliability for this clinical sample, normative data for non-clinical populations are non-existent. The purpose of the current study was to determine normative data and establish validity among a non-clinical population. To establish construct validity, scores on the ASRM were compared to five personality traits: Neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The current study had 166 participants who completed the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and the Altman Self-Rating Scale for Mania. Relationships existed between scores on the ASRM and extraversion and scores on the ASRM and emotional stability. Moreover, the means from the original study with clinical samples differed from means from this non-clinical sample. The scale then, at least for young adult college students in this sample, does not appear to measure what it purports to measure, but replicated studies are needed to confidently make that claim beyond the current sample. Despite this need for replicated studies, the results provide some noteworthy normative data that extend beyond the original normative data.

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