COMPUTERIZED VERSUS STANDARD PERSONALITY MEASURES - EQUIVALENCY, COMPUTER ANXIETY, AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

Undergraduate students were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Purpose in Life Test (PIL) in either paper-and-pencil or computer-administered format. Prior to administration, all subjects completed the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Phobos Mathematics Anxiety Inventory (PHOBOS) in their original paper-and-pencil formats. For those subjects who received the personality tests via computer administration, high CARS scores were associated with higher BDI scores and lower PIL scores, even when state, trait, and mathematics anxiety were partialled out. The results suggest that standardized normative distributions on personality tests may not be applicable to computerized personality tests (CPT).