Typological Analysis of MMPI Personality Patterns of Drug Dependent Men

This study replicated Types I and II of Berzins, Ross, English and Haley's (1974) initial typological research with a drug dependent sample. In this research, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of 447 drug dependent men were submitted to Johnson's (1967) hierarchical clustering procedure. The hierarchical clustering procedure yielded nine small but clinically meaningful personality subtypes. These types were compared to Berzins's (Berzins et al.) profiles and categorized into three diagnostic classes: (a) character disorder, 42% of the sample; (b) neurotic characters, 35% of the sample; and (c) borderline disorder, 23% of the sample. The profiles were discussed with respect to the scale similarity and differences within the diagnostic class. The results were discussed, with implications for treatment and further research efforts with the drug dependent population.     

Enrollment in an Established System of Care: A Replication and Extension of Clinical Profiles at Service Intake

We replicated Rosenblatt et al.'s (1998) cluster analysis of intake profiles of youth enrolled in a system of care program. The characteristics of a unique sample of 275 children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) who participated in the Santa Barbara County Multiagency Integrated System of Care (MISC) program were examined. A two-step clustering procedure (hierarchical and K-means) was used to evaluate subtypes of youth who were opened to MISC after it had become a stable youth-service program. The results of the Rosenblatt et al. (1998) study were replicated with four identical clusters emerging: Troubled, Troubled and Troubling, Troubling, and At-Risk. Two additional clusters were differentiated: Moderate Troubled, and Moderate Troubled and Troubling. Comparisons across these six clusters show distinct profiles of youth with E/BD. Implications of these findings for developing appropriate service plans and for evaluating systems of care outcomes are discussed.     

Distinctive Personality Profiles of the Interpersonal Style Inventory

To identify a few homogeneous subgroups with distinct personality profiles, the Interpersonal Style Inventory (ISI) was administered to two samples, each composed of 100 university undergraduates. Ward's hierarchical algorithm and the buildup nonhierarchical cluster analytic program was applied to measures of profile similarity among members of each sample. Of the six clusters that were isolated in the first sample, five were matched at significant levels across the two methods. In the second sample, six clusters were matched across clustering procedures at significant levels. Comparisons across samples disclosed five good matches between clusters generated by the Ward hierarchical algorithm, but only one for the nonhierarchical analytic procedures, These results indicate that most IS1 personality profiles can be classified into five or six categories for purposes of interpretation or prediction.     

Pain-related correlates of MMPI profile subgroups among back pain patients

The MMPI profiles of 96 male and 218 female patients attending a back pain clinic in a private university-affiliated, orthopedic hospital were analyzed by a hierarchical clustering procedure. The clustering procedure produced four male and four female profile subgroups. The subgroups were compared with one another on the basis of patients' responses to the Cornell Medical Index and revised McGill Pain Assessment Questionnaire. Within the male and female patient cohorts it was found that profile subgroups featuring elevated clinical scales showed greater disruptions of daily activities than did subgroups with relatively unelevated profiles. However, profile subgroups with elevations primarily on the neurotic triad scales reported greater affective disturbance and disruption of daily activities than did subgroups with elevations on both the neurotic triad and relatively psychotic scales. In addition, profile subgroups with subclinical elevations on the neurotic triad scales appeared to have adjusted to their pain experience more poorly than did subgroups that featured scores on nearly all clinical scales that were within one standard deviation of the mean. Suggestions are provided for the use of the MMPI in assessing chronic pain patients and future research regarding cluster analyses of patients' MMPI profiles.     

An empirical study of occupational families in the youth labour market

This research aims at identifying job families for use in broadly based training for young people. A total of 455 job incumbents in the youth labour market were interviewed using the Job Components Inventory (JCI). The job sample was heterogeneous, reflecting a wide range of industries and job titles; some of these were skilled but mainly they were semi- and unskilled. The JCI covers the use of tools and equipment, physical and perceptual skills, mathematical requirements, communication, decision making and responsibility. Cluster analysis of items identified 36 skill components. These formed the basis for job-holder profiles, which in turn were grouped by hierarchical clustering. The optimal solution resulted in six clusters, the characteristics of which were described in terms of JCI component scores. The six clusters were labelled as clerical, skilled interpersonal, operative, unskilled manual, intermediate skilled technical and skilled technical. The stability of these six clusters was assessed using split-half replications. Results are discussed and evaluated in the context of contemporary youth training needs.     

Some NEO-PI five-factor personality profiles

The aim of this study was to identify any clusters of score profiles to be found in a college sample of 236 subjects administered the five-factor NEO [Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness] Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985). Application of Ward's agglomerative hierarchical procedure to the score profiles disclosed six clusters that were replicated in a K-means partitioning process. The six clusters were then compared by a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with respect to their mean five higher order scores on the Interpersonal Style Inventory (Lorr, 1986). The highly significant F tests provided confirmation of the characteristics of the cluster profiles isolated.     

The Shedler-Westen assessment procedure (SWAP): evaluating psychometric questions about its reliability, validity, and impact of its fixed score distribution

The Shedler-Westen assessment procedure (SWAP) is a personality assessment instrument designed for use by expert clinical assessors. Critics have raised questions about its psychometrics, most notably its validity across observers and situations, the impact of its fixed score distribution on research findings, and its test-retest reliability. We review empirical data addressing its validity, emphasizing the multitrait-multimethod approach to evaluating test validity. To evaluate the hypothesis that the fixed, asymmetric score distribution artifactually inflates correlations between SWAP profiles, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations and also presented empirical data from a large patient sample. We observed a mean correlation of zero between simulated SWAP profiles, indicating that the score distribution does not impact the correlation coefficients. Empirical correlations between SWAP profiles of actual patients were small and similar to those obtained using Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) personality disorder scales that had no fixed score distributions, suggesting that the correlations were not a methodological artifact of the SWAP. We report new test-retest reliability data (median coefficient > .85) for the SWAP's trait and personality disorder dimensions. The SWAP appears to be reliable and valid. The data do not support its primary psychometric critiques.     

Using Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) to identify core profiles from the WMS-III

Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) is a procedure for extracting latent core profiles in a multitest data set. The PAMS procedure offers several advantages compared with other profile analysis procedures. Most notably, PAMS estimates individual profile weights that reflect the degree to which an individual's observed profile approximates the shape and scatter of latent core profiles. The PAMS procedure was applied to index scores of nonreplicated participants from the standardization sample (N = 1,033) for the Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (D. Tulsky, J. Zhu, & M. F. Ledbetter, 2002). PAMS extracted discrepant visual memory and auditory memory versus working memory core profiles for the complete 16- to 89-year-old sample and discrepant working memory and auditory memory versus working memory core profiles for the 75- to 89-year-old cohort. Implications for use of PAMS in future research are discussed.     

School-Based Cognitive Mindfulness Intervention for Internalizing Problems: Pilot Study with Hong Kong Elementary Students

Childhood internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression can have serious personal, familial and societal repercussions, including drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency, unplanned pregnancy, and even suicide. There is little research on mindfulness interventions for children with clinical levels of internalizing problems, and school-based mindfulness research with children has focused on non-clinical groups. We employed a two-stage screening and intervention procedure to evaluate an in-school mindfulness-based cognitive intervention for Hong Kong children with subclinical internalizing difficulties. Ninety-three fourth to sixth graders were screened, and twenty students (age 9–13, median age 10) highest among their peers on internalizing problems, but lowest on externalizing problems, participated in a 9-week group mindfulness-based intervention. We employed a two-phase open trial design, with random assignment to an immediate intervention group or wait-list control group. In single-trial analysis, one-tailed dependent sample t-tests showed significant decreases in both worry and in symptoms of panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety and overall internalizing problems. In a randomized controlled trial analysis, the immediate intervention group evidenced larger but nonsignificant reductions on almost all measures. Eighty-five percent of the participants rated the program as helpful, and 65–80 % reported improvement in handling emotions and interpersonal relationships at post-treatment, with some treatment gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. These preliminary findings have encouraging implications for implementing time-limited school-based mindfulness interventions targeting elevated childhood internalizing difficulties.     

Neuroticism as a common feature of the depressive and anxiety disorders: a test of the revised integrative hierarchical model in a national sample

The revised integrative hierarchical model of depression and anxiety (S. Mineka, D. Watson, & L. A. Clark, 1998) proposes that high levels of neuroticism are shared between the depressive and anxiety disorders. This perspective was evaluated with data from the National Comorbidity Survey (N = 5,847), a population-based community sample. Analyses were based on both a broadband (i.e., diagnostic class) and a narrowband (i.e., specific disorder) approach. Results supported the model insofar as high neuroticism was shared across the depressive and anxiety disorders and was particularly elevated in people with comorbid depression and anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the association between personality and the depressive and anxiety disorders in a community sample and for the revised integrative hierarchical perspective.     

A Social Disorganization Perspective on Bullying-Related Attitudes and Behaviors: The Influence of School Context

Social disorganization theory suggests that certain school-level indictors of disorder may be important predictors of bullying-related attitudes and behaviors. Multilevel analyses were conducted on bullying-related attitudes and experiences among 22,178 students in 95 elementary and middle schools. The intraclass correlation coefficients indicated that 0.6–2% of the variance in victimization, 5–10% of the variance in retaliatory attitudes, 5–6% of the variance in perceptions of safety, and 0.9% of the variance in perpetration of bullying was associated with the clustering of students within schools. Although the specific associations varied somewhat for elementary schools as compared to middle schools, the hierarchical linear modeling analyses generally suggested that school-level indicators of disorder (e.g., student–teacher ratio, concentration of student poverty, suspension rate, and student mobility) were significant predictors of bullying-related attitudes and experiences. Student-level characteristics (i.e., sex, ethnicity, status in school) were also relevant to students’ retaliatory attitudes, perceptions of safety, and involvement in bullying. Implications for school-based research and violence prevention are provided.     

The relationship of the Rorschach Schizophrenia Index to psychotic features in a child psychiatric sample

In this study we investigated the reliability and validity of the Rorschach Schizophrenia Index (SCZI) from Exner's (1978, 1993) Comprehensive System for a sample of 413 child psychiatric inpatients by examining relationships with the Personality Inventory for Children-Revised (PIC-R) and chart diagnoses. Interscorer reliability and internal consistency were acceptable. Multivariate analyses of variance results revealed significantly different PIC-R profiles for those with and without elevated SCZI scores, with significant differences emerging on the PIC-R Psychosis (PSY) scale and 2 cognitive triad scales (Intellectual Screening and Development), which have been reported to be more frequently elevated in PIC-R profiles of children with psychotic disorders. Significant differences were found across SCZI groups for the PSY scale, Reality Distortion scale, reality testing critical items and chart diagnoses of psychotic disorder. Implications for clinical interpretation of the SCZI with children and issues for further research with this population are discussed.     

Perception and the Rorschach

In this study we investigated the reliability and validity of the Rorschach Schizophrenia Index (SCZI) from Exner's (1978, 1993) Comprehensive System for a sample of 413 child psychiatric inpatients by examining relationships with the Personality Inventory for Children-Revised (PIC-R) and chart diagnoses. Interscorer reliability and internal consistency were acceptable. Multivariate analyses of variance results revealed significantly different PIC-R profiles for those with and without elevated SCZI scores, with significant differences emerging on the PIC-R Psychosis (PSY) scale and 2 cognitive triad scales (Intellectual Screening and Development), which have been reported to be more frequently elevated in PIC-R profiles of children with psychotic disorders. Significant differences were found across SCZI groups for the PSY scale, Reality Distortion scale, reality testing critical items and chart diagnoses of psychotic disorder. Implications for clinical interpretation of the SCZI with children and issues for further research with this population are discussed.     

Dependent effect sizes in meta-analysis: incorporating the degree of interdependence

In the present article, a commonly used meta-analytic procedure for handling dependent effect sizes from a single sample was examined, and 2 revised procedures that estimate and incorporate the degree of interdependence were proposed. The authors' simulation results reveal that the commonly used procedure that averages the effect sizes from a single sample (denoted as the samplewise procedure) underestimates the degree of heterogeneity. The proposed variations are less biased than the samplewise procedure in estimating the degree of heterogeneity in most of the situations that we examined. Future directions to further improve the procedures for handling dependent effect sizes from a single sample are discussed.     

Hierarchical Vs. Generally Overlapping Models In Psychiatric Classification

This paper illustrates two formal models for psychiatric classification. The first model, called a hierarchical or tree structure, requires patient categories to be disjoint or strictly nested. The second model, called the generally overlapping or network model, allows patient categories to cut across each other in a variety of different ways. Thus, patient groups can be disjoint, strictly nested (as in a hierarchy), or partially overlapping. To derive classification schemes consistent with the structural models, two different clustering techniques were applied to interpatient similarity data collected on 50 psychiatric patients. A hierarchical clustering technique was applied to the similarity data to obtain a hierarchical classification. To obtain a generally overlapping classification, Peay's cliquing procedure was applied to the same data. Two criteria were used to compare the clustering solutions. First, a solution's goodness-of-fit to the original data was examined by calculating the proportion of variance accounted for by cluster categories. Second, the predictive accuracy of a solution was analyzed by looking at the categories' ability to predict treatment assignment. The generally overlapping solution produced the best fit to the original similarity data; however, the hierarchical solution's clusters tended to be more readily interpretable in terms of psychiatric syndromes. Both clustering solutions were relatively poor predictors of treatment assignment. It was concluded that the hierarchical and generally overlapping approaches, although not conclusively demonstrated, represented promising models for psychiatric classification.     

MMPI-2 validity scale characteristics in a correctional sample

The current study investigated the proportion of content-nonresponsive and content-responsive faking Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) protocols in a state corrections sample. Participants were 51,486 inmates who completed the MMPI-2 at the time they entered the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction system. Overall, approximately 79% of the study participants produced valid profiles. Of the entire study sample, 11.3% produced content-nonresponsive profiles, and 9.4% produced content-responsive faking profiles. African Americans produced a higher proportion of content-nonresponsive profiles than Caucasians, and women were slightly more likely than men to produce content-responsive faking profiles. Differences in level of education between African Americans and Caucasians did not account for the disparity in content-nonresponsive profiles. Implications for current practice and future research are discussed.     

An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling

A method of hierarchical clustering for relational data is presented, which begins by forming a new square matrix of product-moment correlations between the columns (or rows) of the original data (represented as an n × m matrix). Iterative application of this simple procedure will in general converge to a matrix that may be permuted into the blocked form [_?1¹₁^?1]. This convergence property may be used as the basis of an algorithm (CONCOR) for hierarchical clustering. The CONCOR procedure is applied to several illustrative sets of social network data and is found to give results that are highly compatible with analyses and interpretations of the same data using the blockmodel approach of White (White, Boorman & Breiger, 1976). The results using CONCOR are then compared with results obtained using alternative methods of clustering and scaling (MDSCAL, INDSCAL, HICLUS, ADCLUS) on the same data sets.     

Some types of clustering with relational constraints

For the clustering problem with general (not necessarily symmetric) relational constraints, different sets of feasible clusterings, also called clustering types, determined by the same relation, can be defined. In this paper some clustering types are discussed and adaptations of the hierarchical clustering method compatible with these clustering types are proposed.     

Externalizing Symptomatology Among Adoptive Youth: Prevalence and Preadoption Risk Factors

The extent of symptomatology related to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) was examined in a statewide sample of adopted youth, aged 4–18 years (n = 808). The use of normed questionnaires in a nonclinical sample decreased biases associated with past research on adopted children. According to parental report, a striking number of the youth qualified as manifesting significant symptom levels of externalizing behavior problems: 21% met symptom cutoffs for ADHD (with or without ODD) and 20% met criteria for ODD (with or without ADHD), for a combined total of 29% of the sample. A number of parent-reported, preadoptive risk factors distinguished these groups from one another and from the nonexternalizing youth. The clearest associated factors included histories of preadoption abuse/neglect, later age of adoption, prenatal drug exposure, and placement in multiple foster homes prior to adoption. We discuss implications regarding both etiology and current controversies surrounding the disproportionate levels of behavioral difficulties in adopted youth.