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Adult Personality Characteristic Assessment

 

This screening test, developed by Robert Ackerman, Ph.D., asks questions about personality characteristics common to adult children of alcoholics.

Please indicate how often you engage in the following behaviors using the scale below to rate your responses:

1 = never 2 = seldom 3 = sometimes 4 = often 5 = always

  • I guess at what is normal.

  • I have difficulty following projects through to completion.

  • I lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth.

  • I judge myself without mercy.

  • I have difficulty having fun.

  • I take myself very seriously.

  • I have difficulty with intimate relationships.

  • I overreact to changes over which I have no control.

  • I feel different from other people.

  • I constantly seek approval and affirmation.

  • I am either super responsible or irresponsible.

  • I am extremely loyal even in the face of evidence that the loyalty is undeserved.

  • I look for immediate as opposed to deferred gratification.

  • I lock myself into a course of action without serious consideration to alternate choices or consequences.

  • I seek tension and crisis and then complain.

  • I avoid conflict or aggravate it, but rarely deal with it.

  • I fear rejection and abandonment, yet I reject others.

  • I fear failure, but have difficulty handling success.

  • I fear criticism and judgment, yet I criticize others.

  • I manage my time poorly and do not set my priorities in a way that works well for me.

  • Scoring:

    20 – 40 Low probability of ACOA/ACOSA
    40 – 60 Some probability of ACOA/ACOSA
    60 – 80 Probability of ACOA/ACOSA
    80 – 100 High probability of ACOA/ACOSA