The development of the items-easy (Ie) and items-difficult (Id) subscales for the MMPI-A

This research involves the development, validation, and cross-validation of the Items-Easy (Ie) and Items-Difficult (Id) subscales for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992). These subscales were designed to assess the degree to which reading comprehension deficits may be responsible for significant elevations of validity Scale F and the standard clinical scales on adolescents' MMPI-A profiles. A difference score, bared on the two 13-item subscales, was created in order to compare subjects' responses to subsets of the more comprehensible (Ie) and less comprehensible (Id) items within the test. Hit rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power, and negative predictive power were calculated on the basis of simple (Id - Ie) and weighted (3Id - 1Ie) difference scores for the validation (N = 495) and cross-validation (N = 264) samples, and for specific high-F profile subsamples. Although some of the indices reflected classification accuracy as high as 95%, none of the indices yielded consistently high results across the various samples and subsamples. It has been concluded that the Ie and Id subscales should be used only for research purposes at this time.     

MMPI-A validity scale uses and limitations in detecting varying levels of random responding

Although there is a substantial research literature on the effects of random responding on the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), there are very few studies available on this topic with the MMPI-A (Butcher et al., 1992). Archer and Elkins (1999) found that MMPI-A validity scales F and VRIN were particularly useful in detecting entirely random profiles from those derived standardly in clinical settings but noted that "all random" protocols could not be used to evaluate the usefulness of the T-score difference between the first half (F1) and the second half (F2) of the MMPI-A test booklet. Following up on this issue, this study extended the methodology of previous research by examining the hit rate, positive predictive power, negative predictive power, sensitivity, and specificity of VRIN, F, F1, F2 and the absolute value of the T-score difference between F1 and F2 (denoted as IF1-F21) in 5 samples varying in the degree of protocol randomness. One of the samples consisted of 100 adolescent inpatients administered the MMPI-A under standard instructions, and another sample consisted of 100 protocols randomly generated by computer. The additional 3 samples of 100 protocols each contained varying degrees of computer-generated randomness introduced in the latter half of the MMPI-A item pool. Over- all, the results generally indicate that several MMPI-A validity scales are useful in detecting protocols that are largely random, but all of these validity scales are more limited in detecting partially random responding that involves less than half the total item pool located in the second half of the test booklet. Clinicians should be particularly cautious concerning validity inferences based on the observed T-score difference that occurs for the F1 and F2 subscales and current findings do not support the clinical usefulness of this index.     

Psychoanalytic Theory and the Rorschach (Book)

The purpose of this study was to explore how Mexican American adolescents (N = 120) would perform on the MMPI-A given that Hispanic adolescents were seriously underrepresented in the national norming sample during the development of the MMPI-A. The participants completed the MMPI-A, a short demographic questionnaire, and a 5-item version of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans. Results indicated that the present sample of Mexican American adolescents' performance on the Validity, Clinical, and Content scales differed minimally from the national norming group's performance, and their performance varied as a function of their levels of acculturation and socioeconomic status. Implications of these data are discussed.     

The brief Reasons for Living Inventory for adolescents (BRFL-A)

This study modified and evaluated the psychometric properties of the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) in samples of adolescents. Internal consistency reliability, corrected item-total scale correlation, and exploratory factor analysis procedures were used with a mixed sample of 260 adolescents to identify 14 items for the brief version of the RFL (BRFL-A). Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the five-factor oblique structure of the BRFL-A in a psychiatric inpatient sample with a range of suicidal behaviors. Reliabilities of the BRFL-A subscales were satisfactory. Four of the five subscales differentiated between suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents. Significant correlations were found between three BRFL-A subscales and several suicide indices. Convergent-discriminant validity was examined by correlating the BRFL-A subscales with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—Adolescents (MMPI-A) Content Scales. Limitations of the study are discussed.This study was supported in part by a Project Grant from the Graduate College, The University of Northern Iowa.     

Item-Level and Scale-Level Factor Structures of the MMPI-A

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) is a 478-item test that represents a substantial revision of the original form of the MMPI. This investigation sought to identify the item-level factor structure of the MMPI-A and also examined the scale-level factor structure of the 69 scales and subscales of this instrument. The study utilized the 1,620 normal adolescents (805 boys and 815 girls) of the normative sample for the MMPI-A. These adolescents ranged in age from 14 to 18 inclusive, with a mean age of 15.54 for boys and 15.60 for girls. A principal factor analysis of item-level responses resulted in extraction of 14 factors that were subjected to promax (oblique) rotation procedures. These 14 factors incorporated 81% of the total MMPI-A item pool and accounted for 44% of the total item-level response variance. For the scale-level analysis, 8 factors were selected for extraction and submitted to promax rotation procedures. These eight factors accounted for a total of 93.5% of the total variance in MMPI-A scale and subscale raw scores, Item-level results were discussed in terms of areas of congruence and dissimilarities from previously reported MMPI factor analyses in adolescent and adult samples, and scale-level factor results were presented in terms of clinical implications for the interpretation of MMPI-A scales and subscales.     

MMPI-A characteristics of male adolescents in juvenile justice and clinical treatment settings

The current study investigates the extent to which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) profiles of 196 male adolescents evaluated in a South Carolina detention center could be successfully discriminated from the protocols of 200 male adolescent psychiatric inpatients in three states and 151 dually diagnosed male adolescents. Results showed significant differences in mean T-score values among these three groups of adolescents across a variety of MMPI-A scales and subscales. Results from discriminant function analyses indicate that treatment setting can be predicted effectively from MMPI-A profiles. Beyond the MMPI-A profile differences established for adolescents in these groups, the similarities of adolescents were also noted, particularly in terms of the frequent occurrence of Within-Normal-Limits profiles for adolescents in all groups. Potential directions for future research with the MMPI-A are presented.     

A replication of the MMPI-A PSY-5 scales and development of facet subscales

McNulty, Harkness, Ben-Porath and Williams recently developed Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-A (MMPI-A). This study examined these new scales in a sample of 545 adolescents receiving inpatient psychiatric treatment. Item-level principal components analyses were employed to determine the internal structure of each PSY-5 scale and to aid in the creation of facet subscales for each PSY-5 scale. Results suggest that the MMPI-A PSY-5 scales display adequate internal consistency and our findings generally replicate the original work of McNulty et al. but also extend this work by showing that several of the PSY-5 scales may also be subdivided into meaningful lower level dimensions. These facet subscales for each of the MMPI-A PSY-5 scales are offered for further study.     

Reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A)

The aim of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the scales of the Spanish version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992). Two samples of 939 and 109 Spanish adolescents ages 14 to 18 years were assessed with the MMPI-A in their school environment. The first sample responded to the inventory once, whereas the second sample responded to it on 2 occasions with a 2-week interval between sessions. Results showed no significant differences in means or variances between the first and the second test administration for most MMPI-A scales. Test-retest reliability ranged between .62 (Amorality, Ma(1)) and .92 (Immaturity, IMM); most correlations exceeded .70. Internal consistency values for the MMPI-A scales in the pretest and posttest were very similar overall. External validity of the MMPI-A was demonstrated through several significant correlations between its scales and YSR/11-18 syndromes and social interaction measures. The highest correlations were established between the Anxious/Depressed YSR/11-18 scale and other MMPI-A scales such as Schizophrenia (Sc), Welsh's Anxiety (A), Adolescent-Anxiety (A-anx) and Adolescent-Alienation (A-aln), and between the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale and the MMPI-A Adolescent-Social Discomfort (A-sod) scale.     

Validation of eating disorder examination questionnaire (EDE-Q)--Spanish version--for screening eating disorders

This research examines the internal consistency, convergent validity, and sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value of the Spanish version of the Eating Disorder Examination-Self-Report Questionnaire (S-EDE-Q), as a screening questionnaire for eating disorders (ED) in a community sample. Participants were 1543 male and female Spanish-speaking students (age range: 12-21 years), who volunteered to complete the S-EDE-Q and the EAT-40. The Spanish version of the Eating Disorders Examination (S-EDE) interview, 12th edition, was administered to 602 of the students. Acceptable internal consistency for the four subscales of the S-EDE-Q was obtained (alpha > or = .74). Corrected point-biserial correlation performed with the 22 items included in the S-EDE-Q subscales showed acceptable values for all the items. The EAT-40 Dieting subscale correlated highly and positively with the four S-EDE-Q subscales (r > or = .70). Acceptable results in sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value when compared with the EDE were found. Correlation between S-EDE and S-EDE-Q diagnoses was positive and significant. Overall, results support the psychometric adequacy of the S-EDE-Q as a screening questionnaire for ED in community samples.     

MAPI-C: The Jury Is Still Out (Software)

This article examines one aspect of the potential usefulness of critical items to the: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -Adolescent (MMPI-A). Endorsement frequency data are presented on the Koss-Butcher (1973) and the Lachar-Wrobeli (1979) critical items for Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) adult normative and clinical samples and for MMPI-A adolescent normative and clinical samples. Adolescents in both normal and clinical samples endorse critical items with a higher frequency than do normal adults. Further, results demonstrated that significant differences were uniformly found between the endorsement frequencies for normative versus clinical subjects for the MMPI-2 samples, whereas similar comparisons for the MMPI-A samples typically showed that adolescents in clinical setting did not endorse critical items more frequently than normal adolescents. These findings indicate that it may be difficult to construct critical item lists for adolescents based on the type of empirical methodology used with adults in which items are selected based on endorsement frequency differences found between comparison group. Beyond the issue of the technical difficulty in creating a critical item list for adolescents, several conceptual concerns are raised regarding the application of critical items to the MMPI-A. It was noted that the concept of "critical items" has not been we11 defined, and both the reliability and validity of critical items may be limited in adolescent populations.     

Detecting random, partially random, and nonrandom Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent protocols

The ability of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; J. N. Butcher et al., 1992) validity scales to detect random, partially random, and nonrandom MMPI-A protocols was investigated. Investigations included the Variable Response Inconsistency scale (VRIN), F, several potentially useful new F and VRIN subscales, and formulas F-sub-2 - F-sub-1 and F + F-sub-2 + |F - F-sub-2|. Protocols completed by 150 adolescents at a juvenile court setting, screened for randomness with a matched-pair Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) or Jesness Inventory, were compared with 100 computer-generated, all-random protocols, and with 5 levels of partially random protocols. VRIN was the most effective scale in detecting all-random protocols; however, the optimum cutoff of >or= 75 failed to identify 1/3 of them. Using the new scales, a decision algorithm was described that correctly classified 94%-95% of protocols as interpretable, partially interpretable, or uninterpretable.     

The classification accuracy of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent: effects of modifying the normative sample

Numerous studies have reported that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) produces a high frequency of within-normal-limits basic scale profiles for adolescents with significant clinical pathology (e.g., Archer, 2005). The current study builds on the observation that the MMPI-A normative sample included participants who reported a recent history of referral for counseling or therapy services. The 193 adolescents who reported referral for counseling were removed from the normative sample and uniform T-score values were recalculated for basic clinical scale raw scores. The frequency of within-normal-limits profiles was only marginally reduced by using the revised MMPI-A norms. Furthermore, the overall hit rate, positive predictive power, and sensitivity were only slightly improved by removing normative participants referred for counseling and basing norms on the remaining 1,427 adolescents.     

Development of an Infrequency-Psychopathology scale for the MMPI-A: the Fp-A Scale

This article describes the development and initial validation of the Infrequency-Psychopathology scale, Fp-A, for the MMPI-A (Butcher et al., 1992). The scale parallels the Infrequency-Psychopathology scale, F(p), that has been developed for the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989). Results demonstrated that the 40-item Fp-A scale is superior to the F scale at discriminating between faking-bad and accurate reports of psychopathology, although the improvement over F was modest, particularly when compared to the improvement found for the F(p) scale. The difference seemed to reflect the superiority of the MMPI-A F scale to the MMPI-2 F scale. Even so, the findings suggest that the identification of overreporting on the MMPI-A could potentially be enhanced by using Fp-A as an adjunct to the F scale.     

The effectiveness of MMPI-A items in discriminating between normative and clinical samples.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) was released in 1992 and has rapidly become the most widely used objective personality assessment instrument with adolescents. Although the MMPI-A reduced or eliminated several problems associated with the use of the original MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) with adolescents, the MMPI-A does produce a high frequency of within normal limits basic scale profiles for individuals with substantial psychopathology including adolescents in inpatient psychiatric settings. To better understand the reasons for this phenomenon, we compared the item endorsement frequencies for the MMPI-A normative sample with results from two adolescent clinical samples, and these results were contrasted to the item endorsement frequencies for the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) normative sample and a clinical sample of adult psychiatric inpatients. Results showed that the MMPI-A contains a substantial number of items that do not show a significant difference in item endorsement frequency between normative and clinical samples. Furthermore, MMPI-A basic and content scales generally show a much lower percentage of effective items than do the corresponding scales for the MMPI-2. We discuss the findings in relation to the frequent occurrence of low range MMPI-A profiles in clinical samples and the potential usefulness of these results in future efforts to develop viable short forms for the MMPI-A.     

A factor structure for the MMPI-A: replication with male delinquents

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) Structural Summary was developed as a means of simplifying the interpretation of the 69 scales and subscales of this test instrument by organizing findings around eight primary factor dimensions. The current study examined the scale-level factor structure of the MMPI-A in a large sample of 1,610 male juvenile delinquents to assess the potential usefulness of this factor structure in a delinquency population. In this attempt to replicate the MMPI-A scale-level factor structure identified by Archer, Belevich, and Elkins in the MMPI-A normative sample and by Archer and Krishnamurthy in a clinical sample, a correlation matrix of all MMPI-A scale raw scores was created for a principal factor analysis. Results from the factor analysis produced a seven-factor solution that was largely consistent with the dimensions of the MMPI-A Structural Summary. Results were also reported in terms of the frequency of elevations on Structural Summary dimensions, with particular evidence of the importance of the Immaturity factor in describing this male juvenile delinquent sample.     

Chinese adolescents' explanations of poverty: the Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale

The Chinese Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale (CPCPS), constructed to assess how Chinese people explain poverty, covers four categories of explanations: personal problems of poor people, lack of opportunities to escape from the poverty cycle, exploitation of poor people, and bad fate. Chinese secondary school students (N = 1,519) were administered the CPCPS. Four factors were abstracted from their responses (Personal Problems, Lack of Opportunity, Exploitation, and Fate) and these factors (i.e., subscales) could reliably be reproduced in different subsamples. The four subscales were also found to be internally consistent and there was some support for their construct validity.     

Type A Personality,Self-Control,and Vulnerability to Stress

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) was released in 1992 and has rapidly become the most widely used objective personality assessment instrument with adolescents. Although the MMPI-A reduced or eliminated several problems associated with the use of the original MMPI (Hathaway &; McKinley, 1943) with adolescents, the MMPI-A does produce a high frequency of within normal limits basic scale profiles for individuals with substantial psychopathology including adolescents in inpatient psychiatric settings. To better understand the reasons for this phenomenon, we compared the item endorsement frequencies for the MMPI-A normative sample with results from two adolescent clinical samples, and these results were contrasted to the item endorsement frequencies for the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, &; Kaemmer, 1989) normative sample and a clinical sample of adult psychiatric inpatients. Results showed that the MMPI-A contains a substantial number of items that do not show a significant difference in item endorsement frequency between normative and clinical samples. Furthermore, MMPI-A basic and content scales generally show a much lower percentage of effective items than do the corresponding scales for the MMPI-2. We discuss the findings in relation to the frequent occurrence of low range MMPI-A profiles in clinical samples and the potential usefulness of these results in future efforts to develop viable short forms for the MMPI-A.     

The development and validation of the Relational, Individual, and Collective self-aspects (RIC) Scale

A new scale measuring Relational, Individual, and Collective self-aspects (RIC) was developed. The RIC Scale consists of ten questions each followed by three options reflecting the three self-aspects. Respondents rate each option in terms of its applicability to the self, yielding three subscale scores and revealing the relative prominence of each self-aspect. Two samples of university students (N1 = 170, N2 = 214) were used to develop and refine the scale. Analyses supported the reliability and validity of the three RIC subscales. Each self-aspect correlated in predicted ways with several existing scales. The RIC Scale also proved useful in assessing gender differences in self-aspect prominence. Validity of the three-part model of the self and implications for future research are discussed.