M-PACI™ (Millon™ Pre-Adolescent Clinical Inventory)

Authors: Theodore Millon, PhD, DSc, Robert Tringone, PhD, Carrie Millon, PhD, and Seth Grossman, PsyD

Little kids. Not so little problems.
Every child deserves to enjoy youth to the fullest. But for some young people, psychological problems can stand in the way—and these difficulties may take root long before the "troubled teens." As a professional who works with children daily, you know first-hand the challenges some preteens face. And, we know the challenges you may face in pinpointing the source of pre-adolescent issues.

Now, there's a comprehensive tool specifically designed to help you quickly and accurately identify psychological problems in children ages 9–12: the Millon™ Pre-Adolescent Clinical Inventory (M-PACI™) test. Unlike instruments that focus on a single clinical area such as anxiety or depression, the M-PACI assessment provides an integrated view that synthesizes the child's emerging personality styles and clinical syndromes, helping clinicians detect early signs of Axis I and Axis II disorders.

Effective and efficient, the M-PACI test can help you arrange early intervention on difficulties that may keep students from making the most of their preteen years—and these, if left undetected, can lead to bigger heartaches down the road.

How to Use This Test

The M-PACI test is used for pre-adolescent assessment in outpatient, inpatient, day treatment, and residential treatment settings. Psychologists, psychiatrists, school psychologists, counselors, juvenile justice professionals, and other mental health professionals can use M-PACI results to help:

• Evaluate troubled pre-adolescents to confirm diagnostic hypotheses
• Contribute to individualized treatment planning by providing an integrated picture of emerging personality patterns and current clinical signs
• Measure progress before, during, and after treatment

Key Features

• Contains fewer than 100 questions and takes most pre-adolescents only 15–20 minutes to complete.
• Uses age-appropriate language and requires minimal reading level.
• Validated against expert clinician judgments and other leading self-report inventories for this age group.
• Developed by Dr. Theodore Millon, a leader in the field of personality development.
• A summary of potential treatment strategies, tailored to each patient, is provided in the M-PACI interpretive report. This information can help clinicians decide which issues to focus on during treatment and how to address them with the patient.

Quick Facts

About the Authors

Theodore Millon, PhD, DSc, was Founding Editor of the Journal of Personality Disorders and Inaugural President of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders.  He has held Full Professorial appointments at Harvard Medical School, the University of Illinois, and the University of Miami. Among his professional activities, he is the primary developer of the Millon inventories. A prolific author, Professor Millon has written or edited more than thirty books, including Disorders of Personality, soon to be published in its third edition, and the just published Personalized Clinical Assessment: A Clinician’s Guide to the Millon Inventories. APA and APF have established the Theodore Millon Award for Mid-Career distinguished scholars in personality psychology. With the support of colleagues and Pearson, Professor Millon serves as Dean and Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology.

Robert Tringone, PhD, serves as the Coordinator of Crisis/Emergency Department Services, Psychological Testing, and Child Externship Training within the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. He also maintains an independent practice with children, adolescents, and adults. He received his doctorate at the University of Miami where he studied with Dr. Millon. Through their joint research ventures, Dr. Tringone served as a Personality Disorders Adviser to the DSM-IV Axis II Work Group. Since 1992, Dr. Tringone has led workshop sessions focusing on adolescent assessment with the MACI (Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory) test, and integrating results from this instrument and several projective techniques. He has authored several book chapters on Millon instruments.

Carrie Millon, PhD, is Assistant Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies of Personology and Psychopathology. She has co-authored several texts in the personality/psychopathology field and has written numerous articles and chapters in the mental and physical health area. Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Millon was an assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, director of the University‘s Biopsychosocial Center for the Study of AIDS, and director of the University‘s EAP program. She also helped design behavioral programs as a clinician at the University of Miami’s Pain and Rehabilitation Programs in its Department of Neurological Surgery.

Seth Grossman, PsyD, is a research coordinator and practicing psychologist at Florida International University's Counseling and Psychological Services Center, and Senior Consultant of Instructional Programs for the Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology. His doctoral dissertation laid the groundwork for the theoretically anchored and contextually integrated “Grossman Facet Scales” of the MCMI-III. Dr. Grossman has co-authored over 30 journal articles, book chapters, instruments, and textbooks over the past eight years, and is now frequently lecturing and conducting training workshops on personality assessment and intervention, both nationally and internationally. He recently co-authored an expansion and reworking of Dr. Millon’s therapy model that is reflected in a new three-volume series on "Personalized Therapy" published by Wiley.

Scales

Emerging Personality Patterns

Current Clinical Signs

Response Validity Indicators

Norms

The normative population of the M-PACI test consists of 292 pre-adolescents, ages 9–12, from 53 sites from across the U.S. These sites included private practices, residential treatment facilities, public mental health centers and family guidance clinics, and other types of settings.

Report Options

Interpretive Report
Provides an integrated analysis of results with regard to the patient’s emerging personality patterns and current clinical signs. Noteworthy Responses help provide clues for follow-up interviews based on individual item responses. The interpretive report also lists recommended treatment strategies tailored to each patient. Suggested treatment approaches are based on the test-taker’s emerging personality patterns and current clinical signs. The report also includes a profile of base rate scores for the scales.

View a sample Interpretive Report.

Profile Report
Presents a graphic representation of base rate scores for all 14 scales and two response validity indicators in an easy-to-read graph. As with the interpretive report, this report can help give administrators a picture of the individual’s personality and behavioral concerns.

View a sample Profile Report.

Scoring Options

Q™ Local Software - Enables you to score assessments, report results, and store and export data on your computer.

Mail-in Scoring Service - Specially designed answer sheets are mailed to us for processing within 24–48 hours of receipt and returned via regular mail.

Hand Scoring - Administer assessments on answer sheets and score them quickly yourself with an answer key.

Optical Scan Scoring - Allows you to score the assessments at your site.

Common Questions and Answers

How long does it take most children to complete the M-PACI inventory?
Twenty minutes or less.

What is the reading level of the M-PACI items?
The M-PACI items are at the third-grade reading level.

Is the M-PACI inventory appropriate for use with non-clinical cases?
No. The inventory was developed and normed based on the responses of 9- to 12-year-olds who were being seen in clinical settings. It should not be used to screen non-clinical cases for psychological problems.

Can the M-PACI inventory be used in school settings?
Yes, but only with children who have been referred for evaluation and/or counseling due to apparent behavioral and/or emotional problems. In other words, it should only be used with clinical cases.

Can the M-PACI inventory be used with children younger than 9 or older than 12?
No. The children involved in the M-PACI development and validation research were between the ages of 9 and 12. Thus, there are no data to support M-PACI use with children outside this age range. The scoring software will not score the inventory if the child is younger than 9 or older than 12.

Is the M-PACI inventory available in any languages other than English?
Not at this time.

How many M-PACI items can be omitted before the inventory is unscorable?
If five or more items are omitted (either left blank or double-marked) the inventory is unscorable. If possible, the child should be asked to answer omitted items so that the inventory can be scored.

Is the M-PACI inventory available for administration over the Internet?
No. The M-PACI inventory can be administered on-screen using this software or it can be administered paper and pencil.

Adult Personality - Adolescent Personality - Biopsychosocial - Careers - Achievement/Cognitive
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