Parent and child MMPI responses: Characteristics among families with adolescents in inpatient and outpatient settings

The relationship of parent personality to child psychopathology has been investigated in numerous MMPI studies over the past three decades. Very few of these studies, however, have directly analyzed MMPI response patterns of both parents and offspring. The current study included the MMPI responses of 199 families with adolescents entering inpatient and outpatient psychiatric setting (N = 542). Inpatient parents and adolescents had significantly higher mean scores across a variety of MMPI scales than did their outpatient counterparts. The linear combination of adolescent and maternal MMPI scale data, in a stepwise discriminative function analysis, resulted in accurate classification of 75% of all children in inpatient treatment and 74% of all children assigned to outpatient treatment. Findings were discussed in terms of salient MMPI differences between inpatient and outpatient families and shared psychopathological characteristics among family members with offspring in psychiatric treatment settings.     

MMPI Response-Set Characteristics Among Adolescents

This study examined the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MPPI) profile characteristics for five different response sets in adolescent populations employing adolescent MMPI norms. In general, findings for "all-true" and "all-false" adolescent profiles were highly similar in shape and elevation to those reported in the adult literature (Graham, 1977; Lachar, 1974), whereas random profiles on adolescent norms differed substantially from adult-norm random profiles in shape but not elevation. The characteristics of "fake good" or "fake bad" response sets were investigated by the use of adolescent subjects in two settings. Ninety-four public high-school students were administered the MMPI with standard and "fake bad" instructions, and 24 adolescents in inpatient psychiatric treatment were administered the MMPI under standard and "fake good" instructions. The MMPI profiles generated by special instructional sets were analyzed in relation to the subject's age, sex, race, and actual MMPI profile features. Findings indicated that although sex and race effects were evident in normal adolescents' attempts to simulate psychopathology on the MMPI, teenagers generally produce profiles containing grossly exaggerated symptom patterns that are relatively easy to detect as invalid. In contrast, it was found that a substantial number of psychiatrically disturbed adolescents may effectively simulate normal profiles and that effectiveness in these attempts was related to greater age and lower actual MMPI T-score values on the Hs and Hy scales.     

Validation of an MMPI short form with literate and illiterate patients

An Improved Readability Form (IRF) of the MMPI was orally administered to 100 literate and 119 illiterate patients, and 140 literate patients were given the full MMPI with standard instructions. Profile comparisons of the MMPI with the IRF given to literates or extracted from the full MMPI yielded only small differences. The much larger differences in the IRF profiles of the illiterates were removed by controlling statistically for sex, race, age, and education. The IRF, when given to literate patients, was a good substitute for the full MMPI in predicting Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores. For the illiterates, the two most salient relationships with scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were preserved, but several weaker associations were qualitatively altered. When the IRF is administered to illiterate patients, the pattern of clinical correlates may differ from those obtained with literate patients given the IRF or MMPI.     

Scale 4 (Pd) of the MMPI and the diagnosis antisocial personality

The MMPI and a structured diagnostic interview were administered to 225 military offenders in an attempt to determine the relationship between Scale 4 (Pd) of the MMPI and a behavioral diagnosis of Antisocial Personality (AS). Individuals satisfying criteria for a diagnosis of AS were found to score significantly higher than inmates not satisfying these criteria on Scale 4, regardless of whether K- or non-K-corrected T scores were used. Several potential moderating variables were crossed with the AS measure but only confining offense (person crime vs nonperson crime) evidenced a statistically significant interaction with AS.     

The MMPI as a predictor of early termination from polydrug abuse treatment.

The MMPI protocols obtained upon admission to an inpatient program for treatment of polydrug abuse were studied to determine if they could identify abusers who terminated prematurely from treatment. Individual scale T scores, profile code types and discriminant scores were evaluated for 104 patients who completed treatment ("stayers") and 72 patients who left prematurely ("quitters"). Although quitters and stayers did not differentiate on primary drug of abuse, age, sex, race, or IQ, quitters were less likely to obtain normal limits or neurotic code profiles, Univariate analyses revealed that quitters obtained higher mean elevations on 6 of the 15 scales studied (F, 4/Pd, 6/Pa, 8/Sc, 9/Ma, A). Discriminant scores based on a stepwise discriminant analysis correctly identified 71% of the study sample, representing a 13.7% improvement over base rate prediction. The probable importance of initial level of psychological discomfort and ability to delay gratification, and the need to examine varied treatment modalities for polydrug abusers identified as at risk for premature termination from treatment were explored.     

MMPI correlates of Exner's Egocentricity Index in an adolescent psychiatric population

This research examined the relationship between Exner's Egocentricity Index (EI) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Scales 2, 4, and 9 in an adolescent psychiatric population. Subjects with a low EI had significantly higher MMPI Depression (D) scale elevations compared to those with a high EI. Furthermore, of the adolescents who had Scale 2 scores in the clinical range, 68% also had an EI in the bottom half of the distribution. There was no relationship between the EI and MMPI scales 4 and 9. These findings are discussed in light of the generally poor correlations between MMPI and Rorschach variables.     

MMPI response-set characteristics among adolescents

This study examined the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MPPI) profile characteristics for five different response sets in adolescent populations employing adolescent MMPI norms. In general, findings for "all-true" and "all-false" adolescent profiles were highly similar in shape and elevation to those reported in the adult literature (Graham, 1977; Lachar, 1974), whereas random profiles on adolescent norms differed substantially from adult-norm random profiles in shape but not elevation. The characteristics of "fake good" or "fake bad" response sets were investigated by the use of adolescent subjects in two settings. Ninety-four public high-school students were administered the MMPI with standard and "fake bad" instructions, and 24 adolescents in inpatient psychiatric treatment were administered the MMPI under standard and "fake good" instructions. The MMPI profiles generated by special instructional sets were analyzed in relation to the subject's age, sex, race, and actual MMPI profile features. Findings indicated that although sex and race effects were evident in normal adolescents' attempts to simulate psychopathology on the MMPI, teenagers generally produce profiles containing grossly exaggerated symptom patterns that are relatively easy to detect as invalid. In contrast, it was found that a substantial number of psychiatrically disturbed adolescents may effectively simulate normal profiles and that effectiveness in these attempts was related to greater age and lower actual MMPI T-score values on the Hs and Hy scales.     

The use of the MMPI special scales in the assessment of delinquent personality.

The MMPI was administered to 401 adjudicated male juvenile offenders, ages 13 to 17, who had been referred to a juvenile court mental health unit for recommendations in court disposition. Mean T scores generated by 86 MMPI clinical and supplementary scales were tabulated and analyzed as to their relationships with completed court offense histories. Twenty-eight of these scales that best described and discriminated between high and low levels of recidivism, crime severity, assault, and property offenses were identified, profiled, and discussed. Data were analyzed by a suggested T-score cutoff of 1.5 standard deviations, univariate, and multivariate (discriminant) analysis. Scales that best discriminated between high and low levels of recidivism and property offenses were Pd (Psychopathic Deviance), Ma1 (Amorality), Pd2 (Authority Problems), Re (Social Responsibility), and MAC (MacAndrew Alcoholism). Low scores on Re (Social Responsibility), Es (Ego Strength), Cn (Control), and St (Social Status) best discriminated between high and low levels of crime severity. High and low levels of assault were best differentiated by Ma3 (Imperturbability), Scale 5 (Masculinity-Femininity), and Pa2 (Poignancy). Although the linear combination of Scales F, 4, 8, and 9 has some utility in the areas of recidivism and property offenses, its discriminative ability is extremely poor for levels of assault and crime severity.     

Predicting Rehabilitation Success with the MMPI and Demographic Data

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the value of selected demographic and personality variables in the prediction of rehabilitation success of handicapped individuals. Demographic data and MMPI scores of 79 clients who had been served by a state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) were used as predictor variables in a multiple-regression analysis. An attempt was made to predict three criteria: occupational level, upward mobility, and closure status. The multiple correlations for each of the three regression equations approached significance at the .05 level. Correlations significant at the .05 level, were found between age at onset, age at time of application, type of disability, and education, for one or more of the criteria. Significant beta weights were obtained for age at time of application, IQ, and the Mf, K, and Pd scales from the MMPI.     

Scale 5 of the MMPI and MMPI-A: evidence of disparity

Scale 5 of the MMPI and MMPI-A was compared in a repeated measures design. Participants for the study were 43 adolescents classified as emotionally disturbed in a public school system and 17 inpatients at a residential treatment center. The MMPI Scale 5 mean score was substantially higher than that of the MMPI-A. The alternate-form reliability between Scale 5 of the two forms was surprisingly low, suggesting that the deletion of 16 items and rewording of 6 additional items changed the scale on the MMPI-A to an extent that may have significantly altered the underlying construct. The authors discuss factors that could be associated with the findings, including: (a) the diminished ability to express feminine interest on the MMPI-A, and (b) general changes in attitudes among adolescents over the 3 or more decades since the MMPI norms were developed.     

Relationships between the MAPI and the MMPI in the assessment of adolescent psychopathology.

Although the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI) are both widely used in the clinical assessment of adolescents, no research has examined the interrelationship between these two instruments. We investigated MMPI and MAPI responses from 199 adolescents assessed at entrance to inpatient or outpatient psychiatric programs in Florida and Virginia. Univariate correlation analyses identified areas of significant associations between these measures, with coefficients ranging widely from -.70 to .72. Substantial diagnostic differences were found between these instruments. The MAPI, for example, yielded no depression-related diagnoses, but produced many more adjustment disorder and personality disorder diagnoses than the MMPI. The rates of diagnostic assignment agreements between diagnoses produced by clinical judgment, MMPI findings, and MAPI interpretive reports were typically quite low.     

Gender Differences in Depression in an Employment Setting

This study extends the literature on sex differences in depression to an employment setting, using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; T and raw scores) and Depression (D) 30 measures. In contrast to previous findings, no gender differences remained on any of the measures after the effects of salary, age, education, and job classification had been taken into account. Findings replicated earlier results showing depressed males to have greater difficulty with concentration and motivation than depressed females. Data suggest that MMPI sex-based T-scores may overcorrect for sex differences in raw scores. Possible explanations for the findings are discussed, including a general improvement in women's well-being associated with changes in social conditions such as employment, or the possibility of a self-selection bias in our sample.     

Limbic system dysfunction and inventoried psychopathology among incarcerated pedophiles

This study explored relationships between “highly probable” neuropathology in the limbic system (as gauged by clinically elevated scores on the Limbic System Check-list-33, or LSCL-33, a screening index for limbic system dysfunction developed by medical researchers at Harvard and Dartmouth) and inventoried psychopathology (as gauged through scores on the MMPI) among a group of adjudicated pedophiles incarcerated for treatment in a specialized prison for criminal sexual psychopaths in a mid-Atlantic state. Principal findings: Only 33 percent of this sample of incarcerated pedophiles exhibits scores on the LSCL-33 at a level high enough to warrant a medical conclusion of “probable” limbic system dysfunction. When scores on the MMPI are grouped according to critical values for clinically relevant scores on the LSCL-33, significant F ratios in one-way analyses of variance are observed on L, F, K, Hs, D, Hy, Pa, Pt, Sc, and Ma. Mean T scores for “probable” dysfunctionals simultaneously reach elevations at or above the threshold of clinical significance for Pd, Pa, and Sc. On that basis, the categorization psychopathic paranoid schizophrenia readily applies to limbic system dysfunctional child sexual abusers studied in this inquiry, but not to their nondysfunctional counterparts. But significant F ratios are observed neither for the age of the victim(s) in the instant offense(s), for the number of prior arrests for sex offenses, for the number of prior arrests for any and all felony offenses, including sex offenses, nor for the offender's current age. However, a stepwise multiple regression between gross number of prior arrests for any and all offenses (including sex offenses) as the most robust of the indices of past criminal activity and both LSCL-33 and MMPI scores across all offenders represented in this inquiry (i.e., the limbic system dysfunctional, the nondysfunctional, and a mid-range group) proceeds to four steps, achieving a multiple R of .575 and encompassing Pd, Mf, Pa, and LSCL-33 scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set. Stepwise multiple regression analyses of past arrest record computed independently for limbic system dysfunctionals and nondysfunctionals progresses among dysfunctionals to seven steps, achieving a multiple R of .867 and encompassing Pd, Hy, Ma, Mf, Si, Pa, and Sc scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set; and among nondysfunctionals, to six steps, achieving a multiple R of .797 and encompassing Mf, D, Pt, Hy, Pa, and over-controlled hostility scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set. The latter results are interpreted as suggesting that neuropathology and psychopathology interact with and potentiate each other in post-dicting criminal behavior among the pedophiles studied in this inquiry. This study was supported in part by the Fund for Correctional and Forensic Psychology, Rutgers University Foundation. The investigators express deep appreciation to Charles Albino for assis-tance in data collection.     

Factorial and Construct Validity of FACES IV Among Italian Adolescents

The aims of this study were to evaluate the reliability, validity and factorial structure of Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Version IV (FACES IV), investigate the relevance of sex and age on family functioning and study the relationship between family functioning and adolescents’ perception of parent and peer attachment. The sample consisted of 1,416 participants (672 women, 744 men, M_age = 17.38 years; age range = 13–22 years) divided into three age groups: 13–15, 16–18, and 19–22 years. Factor analysis confirmed the dimensions formulated to define the construct of family functioning: all the items of each dimension were loaded in the same factor with a correlation of at least 0.30. Groups differed with regard to the age on Cohesion, Enmeshed and Rigid scales: Younger adolescents (age 13–15 years) showed significantly higher scores than adolescents (age 16–18 and 19–22). Sex differences revealed that females had a higher mean score on Cohesion and Flexibility, whereas males had a higher mean score on Disengaged, Enmeshed and Chaotic. Correlations between FACES IV and Parent and Peer Attachment Scale demonstrated the convergent validity of the FACES IV. Data confirmed the validity of FACES IV’s Italian version and suggested that the Circumplex Model has a cross-cultural applicability and it could be a useful instrument in the Italian context.     

Use of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) with Adolescents

This study examined the utility of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) by comparing results obtained with a sample of 217 normal adolescents (M = 16.2 years) to the findings obtained in Cull and Gill's (1988 ) standardization effort. The present sample scored significantly higher than Cull and Gill's normative sample in SPS item, subscale, and total scores. In addition, the SPS generally failed to discriminate between the present, adolescent sample and Cull and Gill's inpatient psychiatric sample. Moreover, item-subscale correlations obtained for the present sample often differed from those reported by Cull and Gill, and factor analysis of SPS item scores failed to replicate Cull and Gill's four-factor solution. Findings suggest the need for caution when using the SPS to assess adolescent suicide potential and underscore the need for additional research regarding the instrument's efficacy in distinguishing between normal and suicidal adolescents.     

Relationship of MMPI dependency and dominance scale scores to staff's ratings, diagnoses, and demographic data for day-treatment clients

Scores on the MMPI Dominance (Do) and Dependency (Dy) scales of day-treatment clients were correlated with staff's ratings, age, sex, diagnosis, length of time in day treatment, and level of independent living. A total of 72 subjects, 36 men and 36 women between the ages of 20 and 65 years, completed the MMPI. Day-treatment staff were asked to rate the dependent and dominant characteristics of each subject on a unipolar adjective checklist of 20 10-point scales. Pearson product-moment correlations indicated significant associations between the two scales, between subjects' scores and staff's ratings, and between scores and age. Analysis of variance showed that (a) Dy scale T-scores were significantly higher than Do scale T-scores, (b) women scored higher on Dy and men scored higher on Do, (c) depressed subjects scored higher on Dy than did other diagnostic groups, (d) apartment dwellers scored lower on Dy than did subjects living in either group homes or with their families, and (e) Dy and Do scores did not vary with length of time in day treatment.     

A Study of Belief in the Accuracy of Newspaper Reports

An examination of the relationship of scores on Siegel's Manifest Hostility Scale (MHS) to Verbal Hostility, Fantasy Hostility, and Hostile Feeling responses to cartoon situations was undertaken, while controlling for sex of subject, sex of experimenter, and the social desirability (So-R) and ego strength/defensiveness (K) scales of the MMPI. MHS scores were significantly related to the three modes of hostility response, while sex of subject and sex of experimenter were not. Adjustment of the dependent variable means for So-R did not cancel MHS effects on Verbal or Fantasy Hostility, but adjustment for K cancelled the significant relationship between MHS scores and Fantasy Hostility and Hostile Feeling responses. Covariation of both K and So-R out of Verbal Hostility cancelled its relationship to MHS scores. Ego strength/defensiveness thus may be more significantly related to hostile responding than social desirability.     

Limbic system dysfunction and inventoried psychopathology among incarcerated pedophiles

This study explored relationships between “highly probable” neuropathology in the limbic system (as gauged by clinically elevated scores on the Limbic System Check-list-33, or LSCL-33, a screening index for limbic system dysfunction developed by medical researchers at Harvard and Dartmouth) and inventoried psychopathology (as gauged through scores on the MMPI) among a group of adjudicated pedophiles incarcerated for treatment in a specialized prison for criminal sexual psychopaths in a mid-Atlantic state. Principal findings: Only 33 percent of this sample of incarcerated pedophiles exhibits scores on the LSCL-33 at a level high enough to warrant a medical conclusion of “probable” limbic system dysfunction. When scores on the MMPI are grouped according to critical values for clinically relevant scores on the LSCL-33, significant F ratios in one-way analyses of variance are observed on L, F, K, Hs, D, Hy, Pa, Pt, Sc, and Ma. Mean T scores for “probable” dysfunctionals simultaneously reach elevations at or above the threshold of clinical significance for Pd, Pa, and Sc. On that basis, the categorization psychopathic paranoid schizophrenia readily applies to limbic system dysfunctional child sexual abusers studied in this inquiry, but not to their nondysfunctional counterparts. But significant F ratios are observed neither for the age of the victim(s) in the instant offense(s), for the number of prior arrests for sex offenses, for the number of prior arrests for any and all felony offenses, including sex offenses, nor for the offender's current age. However, a stepwise multiple regression between gross number of prior arrests for any and all offenses (including sex offenses) as the most robust of the indices of past criminal activity and both LSCL-33 and MMPI scores across all offenders represented in this inquiry (i.e., the limbic system dysfunctional, the nondysfunctional, and a mid-range group) proceeds to four steps, achieving a multiple R of .575 and encompassing Pd, Mf, Pa, and LSCL-33 scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set. Stepwise multiple regression analyses of past arrest record computed independently for limbic system dysfunctionals and nondysfunctionals progresses among dysfunctionals to seven steps, achieving a multiple R of .867 and encompassing Pd, Hy, Ma, Mf, Si, Pa, and Sc scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set; and among nondysfunctionals, to six steps, achieving a multiple R of .797 and encompassing Mf, D, Pt, Hy, Pa, and over-controlled hostility scores as the most efficient interactive post-dictive set. The latter results are interpreted as suggesting that neuropathology and psychopathology interact with and potentiate each other in post-dicting criminal behavior among the pedophiles studied in this inquiry. This study was supported in part by the Fund for Correctional and Forensic Psychology, Rutgers University Foundation. The investigators express deep appreciation to Charles Albino for assis-tance in data collection.