16pf Adolescent Personality Questionnaire (APQ)

The 16pf Adolescent Personality Questionnaire (APQ) is a self-report personality inventory that was specifically developed and normed for adolescents. It elicits valuable information regarding the youth’s personal style, problem-solving abilities, preferred work activities, and areas where the youth is having problems, making the APQ appropriate for screening and for introducing sensitive topics in a counselling situation.

The APQ includes four sections:

• Your Personal Style (normal personality items)

• Problem-Solving (a short measure of general reasoning ability)

• Work Activity Preferences (measures six career-interest variables)

• Life’s Difficulties (optional questions concerning matters of aggression, significant low mood, low sense of self, discouragement, cynicism, violent feelings, sexual activity, drug/alcohol use, and other areas).

Assessment Scales

The APQ has 16 Primary Scales which load onto 5 Global Factors (Extraversion, Anxiety, Tough-Mindedness,Independence, Self-Control). The 16 Primary Scales are:

• Warmth

• Liveliness

• Vigilance

• Openness to Change

• Reasoning

• Rule-Consciousness

• Abstractedness

• Self-Reliance

• Emotional Stability

• Social Boldness

• Privateness

• Perfectionism

• Dominance

• Sensitivity

• Apprehension

• Tension

AREAS OF APPLICATION

The APQ is useful in areas where personality is relevant – educational adjustment, personal or social difficulty, and passage through one’s developmental tasks. The Work Activity Preferences section is particularly helpful with career exploration. In addition, the normal personality section (Your Personal Style) and Work Activity section help professionals adjust their approach to the characteristics of the young person.

REPORT OPTIONS

The APQ has the following two software reports available:

• APQ Guidance Report: The first part of this report is written for the adolescent and provides personality feedback, as well as a ranking of the young person’s work activity preferences and brief descriptions of the student’s top two work styles, including sample jobs. The professional’s section includes raw scores, graphed score profiles, predicted grade point average, and six work activities (similar to Holland’s themes), as well as providing the professional with insights on how to work with the adolescent.

• APQ Psychological Report: provides the same information as the Guidance Report, but with the addition of the Life’s Difficulties information in the professional’s section of the report. The Life’s Difficulties information reports on the adolescent’s answers to the questions about worry, discouragement, cynicism, violent feelings, sexual activity, drug/alcohol use, and other areas.

SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH

Although South African research and norms are not yet available for the 16pf APQ, JVR Psychometrics welcomes the opportunity to partner with clients in conducting research studies in their organisations.