(PS3-C54) The Assessment of Measures of Paranoia: A Validity Study

Paranoia is defined as the belief that others may harm the person with or without cause.  The belief has been shown to exist on a continuum with clinical levels being found in persons with schizophrenia and non-clinical levels being found in normal community populations.  Persons with paranoid ideation tend to blame others and feel that people are out to harm them.  Despite its research, there are few studies to validate how we assess and measure paranoia.   This study will compare some of the common self-report measures of paranoia with clinical ratings of paranoid ideation.  Clinical ratings are considered the gold standard criterion measure for assessing symptoms.   We aim to explore which self-report measures of paranoid ideation are most highly correlated with clinical judgments and ratings so we can begin to identify useful and valid measures.  Additional measures of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem are included since these are related to paranoid ideation as well.  The ideal measure of paranoia will be highly correlated with clinical ratings and show lower correlations with depression, anxiety, and self-esteem.   

            Participants included 100 undergraduate students (40 males and 60 females) from psychology classes at UT -Tyler.   All participants received extra credit of their participation.  Participants completed a demographic form, the Paranoia Scale, Paranoia Suspiciousness Scale, Green Paranoid Thoughts Scale, State Paranoia Scale, Paranoid Deservedness Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.  Clinical ratings of paranoid ideation came from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (suspiciousness and thought disorder items) from two trained clinicians.   Results showed moderate correlations between all of the measures of paranoia.  Specifically, the paranoia scale showed the highest correlations (r=.65) with clinical ratings from the BPRS and lower correlations with anxiety, depression, and self-esteem (all r's < .20) .  Differences in the type of paranoia measured (state vs. trait) will be discussed as it pertains to the results.