Incremental validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 and symptom checklist-90-revised with mental health inpatients

This study evaluated the incremental validity of scores from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) in a sample of mental health inpatients originally published by Archer, Griffin, and Aiduk (1995). The incremental validity of scores from the SCL-90-R primary symptom dimensions and MMPI-2 Clinical, Content, and Restructured Clinical scales was assessed in a sample of 544 mental health inpatients using conceptually related items from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) as criteria. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that scores from the SCL-90-R primary symptom dimensions exhibited limited incremental validity (Mdn DeltaR(2) = .01, range = 0-.01), whereas scores from MMPI-2 scales contributed additional information in the prediction of ratings on all but one BPRS item (Mdn DeltaR( 2) = .08, range = .04-.12).     

Incremental Validity of the MMPI-2 Content Scales in the Assessment of Personality and Psychopathology by Self-Report

The incremental contribution of the MMPI-2 Content Scales to the prediction of scores on self-report measures of personality and psychopathology was investigated. The MMPI-2, Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Personality Inventory, anti Symptom Checklist-90-Revised were administered to 596 subjects: 339 women anti 257 men. Zero-order correlational analyses indicated that both clinical and Content Scales correlated with each of the criterion measures. In all but one case, an MMPI-2 Content Scale was found to have the highest correlation with the extratest variables. Combined hierarchical, stepwise regression analyses demonstrated that the MMPI-2 Content Scales possess incremental validity vis-a-vis the clinical scales for both genders in relation to all of the criterion measures. Additional analyses indicated that the MMPI-2 clinical scales also possess incremental validity vis-a-vis the Content Scales. However, the incremental contribution of the clinical scales was of lesser magnitude. Implications of these findings for test interpretation and future research with the MMPI-2 are discussed.     

An investigation of the psychometric properties of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales with mental health inpatients

In this study, we compared the internal psychometric properties and external correlates of the MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001; Tellegen et al., 2003) Restructured Clinical (RC) scales and corresponding MMPI-2 non-K-corrected Clinical scales in a sample of 280 men and 264 women admitted to inpatient psychiatric units. We evaluated the internal psychometric properties of the RC and Clinical scales by intercorrelation analyses and alpha coefficients. We investigated external correlates of scores from the RC and Clinical scales using selected chart variables, selected Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (Derogatis, 1983, 1994) items, and clinician ratings on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (Overall & Gorham, 1988). Results showed psychometric support for the RC scales in terms of improved intercorrelation patterns and comparable or greater alpha coefficients. Further, external correlational analyses revealed varying degrees of evidence of improvement in convergent and discriminant validity.     

Utility of the SCL-90-R with depressed and conduct-disordered adolescent inpatients.

We assessed the diagnostic utility of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) in a sample of adolescent inpatients. In Part 1 (n = 79), convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated for SCL-90-R scales measuring depression and paranoid ideation. Canonical correlation showed that SCL-90-R scales tapped two dimensions of adolescent psychopathology, a primary dimension of dysphoria and a secondary dimension of anger and mistrust. In Part 2 (n = 50), adolescents diagnosed as having major depression showed significant elevations on scales measuring depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive features. Although several scales had high diagnostic specificity for major depression and conduct disorder, sensitivity was low.     

Empirical correlates of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales in a nonclinical setting

We examined the empirical correlates of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC; Tellegen et al., 2003) scales in a nonclinical setting. We administered 12 criterion measures assessing variables expected to be associated differentially with the RC Scales along with the MMPI-2 to a sample of 1,038 college students (Men, N = 407; Women, N = 631). Criteria included measures of somatization, depression, Machiavellian negativism, drug and alcohol abuse, anger, anxiety, social phobias, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, magical ideation, perceptual aberration, lability, and impulsivity. Results demonstrate good convergent and discriminant validity for the RC scales and add to a growing body of empirical correlates of these scales.     

Utility of the SCL-90-R With Depressed and Conduct-Disordered Adolescent Inpatients

We assessed the ciiagnosric utility of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-9O-R) in a sample of adolescent inpatients. In Part 1 (n = 73), convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated for SCL-90-R scales measuring depression and paranoid ideation, Canonical correlation showed that SCL-90-R scales tapped two dimensions of adolescent psychopathology, a primary dimension of dysphoria and a secondary dimension of anger and mistrust. In Part 2 (n = 50), adolescents diagnosed as having major depression showed significant elevations on scales measuring depression, anxiety, an obsessive-compulsive features. Although several scales had high diagnostic specificity for major depression and conduct dsorder, sensitivity was low.     

Susceptibility of the MMPI-2 clinical, restructured clinical (RC), and content scales to overreporting and underreporting

The authors examined and compared the susceptibility of three Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scale sets (Clinical, Restructured Clinical [RC], and Content) to over- and underreporting using five analog samples. Two samples of 85 and 191 undergraduate students, respectively, took the MMPI-2 under underreporting versus standard instructions. Three samples consisting of 42 undergraduates, 73 psychiatric inpatients, and 84 medical patients took the MMPI-2 under overreporting versus standard instructions. A comparison of the effect sizes across the three sets of scales indicated that Clinical Scale scores are not less susceptible to distortion than the Content or RC Scales. An apparent lesser susceptibility to underreporting for the Clinical Scales was an artifact of the subtle items' effect on these scales.     

MMPI-2 Content Scale Validity Within a Sample of Chronic Pain Patients

The concurrent, criterion-related and discriminant validity of four of the MMPI-2 content scales were examined within a population of 309 patients being evaluated for the treatment of chronic pain. Utilizing both self-report and therapist-derived criteria, the MMPI-2 content scales designed to assess symptoms of anxiety (ANX), depression (DEP), low self-esteem (LSE), and anger (ANG) demonstrated the ability to provide valid information beyond that provided by the traditional MMPI-2 clinical and validity indices. Further, a multi-trait/multi-method analytic approach revealed; (1) strong discriminant validity for the ANG content scale and (2) substantial variance overlap among all the self-report measures of subjective distress, compromising our efforts to evaluate the discriminant validity of the ANX, DEP, and LSE content scales.     

Behavioral correlates of selected MMPI-2 clinical, content, and restructured clinical scales

In this study, we evaluated the validity of the Restructured Clinical (RC; Tellegen et al., 2003) scales by identifying and comparing behavioral correlates of selected RC scales (RCd, RC2, RC4), their original Clinical scale counterparts (Scale 2, Scale 4), and conceptually related Content scales (DEP, ASP, CYN) in an outpatient clinical sample (N = 150). The results of this study indicate that RC4 is a stronger predictor of several antisocial behaviors than Clinical Scale 4 or the Content Scales ASP and CYN. In contrast, RC2 demonstrated significantly lower correlations with several behaviors conceptually related to depression than its Clinical scale counterpart or DEP. DEP was highly correlated with RCd (r = .91, p < .0001), suggesting that the 2 scales may be measuring similar constructs. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate relatively few differences among the scales selected in their ability to predict extratest behaviors.     

Comparability and validity of computerized adaptive testing with the MMPI-2

The comparability and validity of a computerized adaptive (CA) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) were assessed in a sample of 571 undergraduate college students. The CA MMPI-2 administered adaptively Scales L, E the 10 clinical scales, and the 15 content scales, utilizing the countdown method (Butcher, Keller, & Bacon, 1985). All subjects completed the MMPI-2 twice, with three experimental conditions: booklet test-retest, booklet-CA, and conventional computerized (CC)-CA. Profiles across administration modalities show a high degree of similarity, providing evidence for the comparability of the three forms. Correlations between MMPI-2 scales and other psychometric measures (Beck Depression Inventory; Symptom Checklist-Revised; State-Trait Anxiety and Anger Scales; and the Anger Expression Scale) support the validity of the CA MMPI-2. Substantial item savings may be realized with the implementation of the countdown procedure.     

Use of the MMPI-2 in American Indians: II. Empirical correlates

R. W. Robin, R. L. Greene, B. Albaugh, A. Caldwell, and D. Goldman (2003) reported that members of 2 American Indian tribal groups had statistically significant higher T scores on several MMPI-2 clinical, content, and supplementary scales than did the MMPI-2 normative group. The present study investigated the empirical correlates of the MMPI-2 scales in these American Indian tribal members. There were a large number of significant correlates reflecting antisocial symptoms with Scales 4 (Psychopathic Deviate), 9 (Hypomania), Anger, and Antisocial Practices. There were even a larger number of significant correlates reflecting generalized distress and negative affect with Scales 7 (Psychosthenia), 8 (Schizophrenia), Anxiety, Obsessions, Depression, and Welsh Anxiety. The rationally derived MMPI-2 content scales generally had larger correlations with these constructs than the clinical scales. Thus, the differences reported by R. W. Robin et al. (2003), appear to reflect behaviors and symptoms that American Indians participants were experiencing rather than test bias.     

The MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales and restraints to innovation, or "what have they done to my song?"

Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan (2006/this issue) largely replicate in an independent clinical sample the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales developed by Tellegen et al. (2003). Nichols (2006/this issue) raises numerous concerns about the development and utility of the RC Scales, which on close appraisal did not change our view that the scales are well conceived and potentially valuable to researchers and clinicians alike. We present two case studies in which the RC Scales helped clarify complex MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) profiles with multiple elevations on the Clinical, Content, Supplementary, and Personality Psychopathology Five (Harkness, McNulty, Ben-Porath, & Graham, 2001) scales. When interpretations refined by the RC Scales were discussed with the clients, each seemed to feel deeply understood. Reservations about instrument innovation can be appreciated as helping to counterbalance change and thereby ensure the MMPI-2's successful ongoing evolution. We discuss specific ways the MMPI-2 community could avoid polarization about the RC Scales.     

Validity and clinical scale comparisons between the MMPI and MMPI-2 with psychiatric inpatients.

This study was designed to investigate the comparability of the original MMPI (1950) and the MMPI-2 (1989) with a psychiatric patient population. 34 male and 3 female patients, shortly after admission to one of two acute psychiatry units, completed the old and revised versions of the MMPI. Paired t tests indicated but scant differences for raw scores, while many more differences were found among T scores for validity, clinical, and supplemental scales. Analyses, however, showed all scales on the two forms to be highly correlated. Analysis of the high-point and two-point codes across the two administrations also showed relative stability, although the proportion of Scales 2 (Depression) and 8 (Schizophrenia) decreased, while those for Scales 6 (Paranoia) and 7 (Psychasthenia) increased markedly in the MMPI-2 protocols. Examination of each version's discriminability among mood- and thought-disordered subsamples suggested that the MMPI provides slightly better delineation between diagnostic classes. Discriminant function analyses showed that there were essentially no differences between the two forms in the accurate classification of clinical and nonclinical groups. The findings reported here provide support for the MMPI-2; despite modification, the newer form retains the advantages of the original MMPI. Differences found here may be unique to psychiatric patients and their patterns of MMPI/MMPI-2 equivalence and may not generalize to other special populations.     

A Structural Analysis of the Impact of MMPI-2 on MMPI-1

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-1 (MMPI-1) items modified for Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) are presented in pairs to illustrate modifications. MMPI-1 items deleted from MMPI-2 are presented, grouped by categories. Frequencies of items remaining in MMPI-2 for the following special scales are presented: Harris and Lingoes subscales of the clinical scales (Harris & Lingoes, 1955/1968); Wiggins Content scales (Wiggins, 1966); Tryon, Stein, and Chu (TSC) cluster scales (Stein, 1968; Tryon, 1966); Indiana Rational scales (Levitt, 1989); and selected other special scales. Frequencies of MMPI-1 items in the MMPI-2 validity and content scales are also presented, k is concluded that most of the special scales developed for MMPI-1 remain relatively intact in MMPI-2.     

The factor structure of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales

We investigated the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales (Tellegen et al., 2003) to determine if they had a more differentiated factor structure than the MMPI-2 Clinical scales. When factored alone, the RC scales had a 5-dimensional structure; the Clinical scales had 3 dimensions. When factored in combination with the Content scales, both sets of scales produced 5 dimensions. However, the RC and Content factors generally provided more efficient and logical markers of psychopathology than the Clinical and Content factors. We discuss interpretive considerations.