Personal Sentence Completion Inventory

Abstract

The Personal Sentence Completion Inventory (PSCI) is a specialized, 50-item projective assessment tool developed by L. C. Miccio-Fonseca (1997). Designed for use in research, educational, and clinical settings, the PSCI focuses on gathering detailed qualitative information regarding an individual’s erotic development, sexual history, and sexual behaviors. It is particularly valuable for the assessment, evaluation, and treatment of sexually related issues, specifically targeting male and female sexually abusive individuals (including those arrested or convicted of sex offenses) across a wide age range (7–75 years).

The inventory utilizes a sentence completion format to uncover variables related to the risk and potential for recidivism, such as intimacy deficits, deviant sexual fantasies, family lovemaps, and indicators of severe sexual disorders like paraphilias or dissociative features. Unlike traditional actuarial instruments that focus on comparing individual scores to offender groups, the PSCI provides rich, individualized, qualitative data that supplements comprehensive psychological evaluations and helps clinicians uncover areas of self-disclosure not captured by structured tests.

Keywords

Personal Sentence Completion Inventory, PSCI, sex offenders, erotic development, sexual assessment, recidivism risk, paraphilias, sentence completion, qualitative data, family lovemaps, forensic evaluation.

Authors

L. C. Miccio-Fonseca.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PSCI is to serve as a versatile clinical and research instrument for the assessment, evaluation, and treatment planning related to complex sexually related issues. It is specifically designed to elicit sensitive, deeply personal information that may be difficult to obtain through standardized, quantitative measures. The tool is highly utilized in forensic and clinical contexts involving individuals who have committed or are at risk of committing sexual offenses.

The PSCI is also structured to facilitate therapeutic discussion. Its open-ended format makes it useful in structured group therapy sessions (often 10–12 week segments) focused on topics such as sexual health, sexual fantasies, and erotic development, serving both genders and all applicable age groups within the clinical population. It functions as an instructive supplement, assisting the clinician in completing a comprehensive picture of the individual’s sexual background and proclivities.

Construct

The PSCI measures several critical psychological and behavioral constructs related to sexual development and deviance. Key areas assessed include risk factors and recidivism potential in sexually abusive individuals. The inventory specifically targets underlying cognitive and emotional deficits that may contribute to sexual misconduct.

The core constructs explored are love relationships and intimacy deficits, the presence and nature of deviant sexual fantasies, the exploration of erotic pleasures, and unconventional sexual history indicative of sex disorders, such as paraphilias. Furthermore, it assesses variables related to family lovemaps (Miccio-Fonseca, 2006, 2007), including the quality of family relationships and early separation from natal parents prior to the age of 16, and potential indicators of severe psychopathology, including dissociative features or paraphilic fugue states.

Validity

While the PSCI provides qualitative data and lacks a conventional psychometric scoring scheme, its validity is established through its empirical basis and clinical utility, particularly its ability to elicit specific, relevant content. The inventory covers variables that are empirically supported and recognized in the literature as being directly related to the risk and/or recidivism of sexually abusive adults and adolescents. Its open-ended format is designed to be transparent to respondents, maximizing the likelihood of self-disclosure regarding sensitive content experience.

The tool is described as an instructive supplement that assists clinicians in completing a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s sexual background and proclivities. Its extensive use in court-ordered psychological evaluations of sex offenders suggests high face and ecological validity within forensic settings. The clinical application relies heavily on the subsequent qualitative interview, where the examiner validates and expands upon the written responses, distinguishing it from popular actuarial tools.

Reliability

Given that the PSCI is a qualitative, projective instrument without a standardized scoring method, traditional quantitative measures of reliability (such as Cronbach’s Alpha or formal inter-rater reliability of scores) are not applicable or reported in the provided source material. The reliability of the assessment relies primarily on the professional skills and sophistication of the examiner during the administration and, critically, during the subsequent qualitative interview phase.

The instrument’s development included a pilot study (N=185) where items were rewritten for clarification, leading to a revised 50-item sentence-stem version administered to a subsequent group (N=155). This developmental rigor ensured that the prompts reliably elicited relevant information across diverse demographics. Clinical observations during the assessment help determine the best ways to approach and uncover areas of self-disclosure, thereby enhancing the reliability of the overall clinical picture.

Factor Analysis

Standard psychometric factor analysis is typically utilized for scales designed to produce quantitative scores or define specific latent constructs via statistical clustering. Since the PSCI is explicitly described as providing qualitative data rather than quantitative data, and operates without a formal scoring scheme, traditional factor analysis procedures have not been applied or reported for this instrument in the available literature.

The organization of the 50 sentence stems is based on empirically known variables relevant to sexual deviance and risk, rather than statistical factor loadings. The structure is thematic, designed to cover diverse clinical areas such as erotic pleasures, sexual discomforts, and sexual dreams, ensuring broad coverage of the relevant constructs.

Instrument

Test Type: Projective; Qualitative Sentence Completion Inventory

Format: Paper-and-pencil inventory (50 sentence stems); free-form, open-ended responses.

Language Available: English (based on source material).

Population Group: Clinical and Forensic populations, specifically individuals involved in or at risk for sexually abusive behavior.

Age Group: Children, Adolescents, and Adults (7–75 years).

Population Details: The scale was initially based on a sample of 656 individuals, including males and females, categorized as: (a) victims of sexual abuse, (b) non-victim sex offenders, (c) victim/offenders, and (d) individuals who were neither victims nor offenders. The majority had received psychological evaluations and individual or group therapy.

Test Methodology: Qualitative assessment using 50 sentence stems completed by the respondent in approximately 15 minutes, followed by a necessary qualitative interview conducted by a professional examiner to explore and clarify responses. There is no formal scoring scheme, emphasizing the clinical interpretation over quantitative results.

Keywords

Clinical assessment, forensic evaluation, sexual abuse victims, group therapy tool, intimacy deficits, sexual fantasies, erotic development, L. C. Miccio-Fonseca, paraphilic fugue states.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: L. C. Miccio-Fonseca, Clinic Director, Clinic for the Sexualities, 591 Camino de la Reina, Suite 705, San Diego, CA 92108.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1997 (Publication of the User’s Guide).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding current licensing, permissions, or fees is not explicitly detailed in the source content. The User’s Manual was published by Safer Society Press (Miccio-Fonseca, 1997), suggesting that permissions must be obtained through the publisher or the author/clinic.

The User’s Manual for the PSCI is available and includes examples of actual responses, comments on item responses, related research, and a glossary of terms, serving as the professional guide for administration and interpretation.

Reference’s

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (1996). Research report: On sex offenders, victims and their families. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 23(3/4), 71–83.

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (1997). Personal Sentence Completion Inventory: User’s guide. Brandon, VT: Safer Society Press.

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (2000). Adult and adolescent female sex offenders: Experiences compared to other females and male sex offenders. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 11, 75–88.

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (2001). Somatic and mental symptoms of male sex offenders: A comparison among offenders, victims, and their families. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 13, 103–114.

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (2006, Winter). Family lovemaps: Challenging the myths related to multiple paraphilias, denial, and paraphilic fugue states. ATSA Forum. Retrieved December 14, 2005, from: http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/atsa/issues/2005-12-15/l.html

Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. (2007). Challenging the myths about sex disorders: Understanding the role of bio-physio process, family lovemaps, and paraphilic fugue states. In D. S. Prescott (Ed.), Knowledge and practice: Challenges in the treatment and supervision of sexual abusers (pp. 91–107). Oklahoma City, OK: Wood ‘N’ Barnes.

Items of the Personal Sentence Completion Inventory

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Sexual Dreams

19. My sex dreams are usually about

Erotic Pleasures

32. What turns me on sexually is

Sexual Discomforts

40. The thing I tried sexually once but wouldn’t do again is