1. Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument Version 2 (MAYSI-2)
Overview
Oregon Youth Authority
Slides prepared by Dominique Sotelo, MA, LMFT – OYA Treatment Services Coordinator

2. MAYSI-2 History Authors: Thomas Grisso, PhD
Richard Barnum, MD
Piloted in Massachusetts beginning in 1996
First Commercial Version Published in 2003
Current Revised Version Published in 2006

3. MAYSI-2 Nature and Purpose
Assess an array of behavioral and mental health risk areas in youth placed in correctional settings.
Provide an assessment that can be administered in the first hours of placement.
Flexibility to allow non clinical staff to administer and score the assessment
Assessment results are simple to understand and allow swift decision making to occur regarding milieu management.

4. MAYSI-2 Nature and Purpose cont. Types of Items
Alcohol / Drug Use (AD)
Angry-Irritable (AI)
Depressed-Anxious (DA)
Somatic Complaints (SC)
Suicide Ideation (SI)
Thought Disturbance (TD) – BOYS ONLY
Traumatic Experiences (TE)

5. MAYSI-2 Procedure and Directions
MAYSI was initially normed on a population of 1279 youth in the state of Massachusetts.
MAYSI-2 was again normed on a population of 70,423 youth from 19 states of the U.S.
Norm population occurred in actual close custody settings with youth from diverse races and cultures
Cutoff scores were lowered as a result of second norming exercise.

6. MAYSI-2 Procedure and Directions cont. Administration
Can be administered individually in a group
If in a group insist on silence
Can be administered and scored by any staff
Follow up interviews should be conducted by a QMHP
Staff can read the questions aloud to youth if needed
Make an effort to not stare at the youth’s answers

7. MAYSI-2 Procedure and Directions cont. Administration cont.
Should take no longer than 15 minutes
Can be administered multiple times over the youth’s length of stay
Questionnaire is available in Spanish
Computer version is available
Non-Validated follow up interview guides for each scale are included in the MAYSI-2 materials binder

8. MAYSI-2 Procedure and Directions cont. Scoring
Scores separate groups into “normal”, WARNING or CAUTION designations
Youth that score in the WARNING or CAUTION range need to have a follow up interview
Thought Disturbance (TD) is only valid for boys
Scoring is “Objective”
MAYSI-2 is a self report instrument

9. MAYSI-2 Procedure and Directions cont. Scoring cont.
The Traumatic Experiences scale was not shown to be significant, however youth with any score on this scale should received a follow up interview
Scales can be scored as INVALID. This occurs when youth do not answer enough questions in a particular scale.
MAYSI-2 will yield false positives, this is why a follow up interview is strongly suggested
Questionnaire and scoring sheet can be copied at no cost

10. MAYSI-2 Technical Aspects cont. Score Range
Scores are obtained on each of the 7 subscales
Scores range from (0 to 8), (0 to 9),
(0 to 6), and (0 to 5) depending on the subscale

11. MAYSI-2 Technical Aspects Group Discrimination CAUTION
AD = 4 or 5 YES responses
AI = 5, 6, or 7 YES responses
DA = 3, 4, 5 YES Responses
SC = Somatic Complaints 3 , 4, or 5 YES Responses
SI = 2 YES Responses
TD = 1 YES Response (boys only)
TE = not a predictive scale
Scores in the CAUTION range represent the 67 percentile

12. MAYSI-2 Score Distribtion cont. Group Discrimination cont.
WARNING
AD = 6, 7, or 8 YES Responses
AI = 8 or 9 YES Responses
DA = 6, 7, 8, or 9 YES Responses
SC = 6 YES Responses
SI = 3, 4, or 5 YES Responses
TD = 2, 3, 4, or 5 YES Responses
TE = Not a predictive scale
Scores in WARNING range represent the
85-95 percentile depending on the scale.

13. MAYSI-2 Technical Aspects Reliability Item Total Correlations
r=.33 for all items “deemed acceptable”
Individual items align with the construct
Alpha Coefficients
Average α = .75
Groups of items align with the construct
Inter-Scale Correlations
Average r=.39 boys, r=.41 girls
Supports that the scales when looked at a whole indicate a broader issue: Psychosis, Clinical Depression, ect..

14. MAYSI-2 Technical Aspects cont. Reliability cont. Test – Retest
r= .75 for boys and girls

15. MAYSI-2 Technical Aspects cont. Validity
MAYSI-2 Constructs significantly correlate to diagnostic findings from other assessments
MMPI-A
CBCL-YSR
MACI

16. MAYSI-2 Literature Review
Archer, R.P., Sionds‐Bisbee, E.C., Spiegel, D.R., Handel, R.W., & Elkins, D.E. (2010). Validity of t he Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument‐2 (MAYSI‐2) in juvenile justice settings. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(4), 337‐348.
Archer, R. P., Stredny, R. V., Mason, J. A., & Arnau, R. C. (2004). An examination and replication of the psychometric properties of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument ‐ Second Edition (MAYSI‐2) among adolescent in detention. Assessment, 11(4), 1‐13.
Bailey, S.M. (2008). Predicting mental illness with the MAYSI‐2. Disseration Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 68(9‐B), 6287.
Brawn, K.M., & Roe‐Sepowitz, D. (2008). Female juvenile prostitutes: Exploring the relationship to substance use. Children & Youth Services Review, 30 (12), 1395‐1402.
Butler, M., Loney, B., & Kistner, J. (2007). The Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument as a predictor of institutional maladjustment in severe male juvenile offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34, 476‐492.
Chapman, J., & Ford, J. (2008). Relationships between suicide risk, traumatic experiences, and
substance use among juvenile detainees. Archives of Suicide Research, 12(1), 50‐61.
Caldwell, R.M., Sturges, S.M., & Silver, N.C. (2006). Home versus school environments and their influences on the affective and behavioral states of African‐American, Hispanic, and caucasian juvenile offenders. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 125‐138.

17. MAYSI-2 OYA and the MAYSI-2 Administered at Intake
Results are documented on form 4409
Administered when a youth is transferred to another OYA facility.
Results documented on form 4413
Possible administration for youth 90 day mental health reviews
Using this screen aids in supporting our suicide risk level designations for youth and decisions regarding enacting safety precautions for youth