Generalities

API stands for Adult Personality Inventory, not to be confused with the assessment of the same name, standing for Applicant Potential Inventory. The API was developed by Samuel E. Krug in 1984. Krug is a psychometrician and founder of Metritech based in Champaign, Illinois.

API was distributed by the Buros Institute, Secure Point, and a few other distributors [2006]. PSI Services LLC published it. The publication was discontinued in February 2020.

Assessment

The test consisted of 324 items. It assessed adult personality characteristics in the normal range.

The Catell 16PF assessment inspired it and was initially designed by Krug as the 16PF next version. Its item selection began with factor analysis of the 16PF item pool. In the tradition of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, developed at the same time, the dimensions were empirically developed by studying patterns that differentiate people across a broad sampling of occupations.

The API measures three sets of scales: Personal Characteristics, Interpersonal Style, and Career Factors. The assessment used to produce mini-reports.

Personal Characteristic. The first set includes seven personal characteristic scales. Interpersonal Style. The second set includes eight interpersonal styles scales. Career Factors. The third set includes six factors: Practical, Scientific, Aesthetic, Social, Competitive, and Structured, which were devised to relate to career choice, job satisfaction, and lifestyle preferences.

Usage

Designed to analyze individual differences in personality, interpersonal style, and career/lifestyle preferences, to be used by psychologists.

Comment

Although Krug attempted to replace the Catell 16PF with the API for workplace applications, it never happened.

The Catell 16PF’s notoriety was already well established when API was devised. Other tests, like the Strong, for career counselling, were also popular. There was apparently no need for a similar assessment, even more specialized for the workplace.

Other tests emerged on the market at the end of the 1990s that invalidated some findings of the 16PF and similar systems.

References

Ahadi, S.A. (1991). The use of API career factors as Holland occupational types. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51, 167-172.

Krug, S.E. (1984). Adult Personality Inventory manual. Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.

Krug, S. E. (1995). Career Assessment and the Adult Personality Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 3(2), 176-187. https://doi.org/10.1177/106907279500300205

Krug, S. E. (2004). The Adult Personality Inventory. In M. E. Maruish (Ed.), The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcomes assessment: Instruments for adults (3rd ed., pp. 677–692). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.