Predictive Validity of the MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales in a Batterers' Intervention Program

Summary: The test-retest reliability of the Hutt Adaptation of the Bender-Gestalt Test was explored with a population of 40 process schizophrenics over a two-week interval. The total Psychopathology Scale Score was found to have high retest reliability for both male and female patients (rho = .87 for males and .83 for females). Moreover the three major components of the Scale were found to have high reliability, and fairly high reliabilities were obtained for patients scoring high as well as low on the Scale. Interjudge reliability was also found to be very high (rho = .895), confirming previous studies in this respect. On these grounds, the Scale offers promise both for clinical and research purposes.     

Further validation of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Response Bias Scale: findings from disability and criminal forensic settings

The present study extends the validation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Response Bias Scale (RBS; R. O. Gervais, Y. S. Ben-Porath, D. B. Wygant, & P. Green, 2007) in separate forensic samples composed of disability claimants and criminal defendants. Using cognitive symptom validity tests as response bias indicators, the RBS exhibited large effect sizes (Cohen's ds = 1.24 and 1.48) in detecting cognitive response bias in the disability and criminal forensic samples, respectively. The scale also added incremental prediction to the traditional MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales in the disability sample and exhibited excellent specificity with acceptable sensitivity at cutoffs ranging from 90T to 120T. The results of this study indicate that the RBS can add uniquely to the existing MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF validity scales in detecting symptom exaggeration associated with cognitive response bias.     

Examining Current Conceptualizations of Psychopathology With the MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF Restructured Clinical Scales: Preliminary Findings From a Cross-Cultural Study

Watson (2005 Watson, D. (2005). Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for DSM–V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 522–536.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) proposed a hierarchical reorganization of the underlying structure of emotional disorders. This study cross-culturally evaluated Watson's (2005) structure of mood and anxiety disorders, using mainly dichotomous criteria, and explored the placement of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) in this model. It also tested Sellbom, Ben-Porath, and Bagby's (2008) proposed elaboration of the 2-factor model (positive and negative activation) that incorporates a higher order dimension of demoralization. One hundred men and 133 women from psychiatric settings in Israel completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (Butcher et al., 2001 Butcher, J. N., Graham, J. R., Ben-Porath, Y. S., Tellegen, A., Dahlstrom, W. G., &; Kaemmer, B. (2001). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI–2): Manual for administration, scoring and interpretation (Rev. ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and the Maudsley Obsessional–Compulsive Inventory (Hodgson &; Rachman, 1977 Hodgson, R. J., &; Rachman, S. (1977). Obsessive–compulsive complaints. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 389–395.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). They were interviewed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Sheehan et al., 1998 Sheehan, D. V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K. H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., &; Weiller, E. (1998). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM–IV and ICD–10. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 22–33.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated Watson's structure for women but not for men. Mixed results were obtained regarding OCD's location in the model. Findings among women support the applicability of Watson's (2005) model across a variety of assessment modalities, as well as in a different language and for diversified cultural backgrounds. This conclusion, however, should be tempered in consideration of the results among men. Findings also provide evidence of the importance of demoralization in mood and anxiety disorders.     

A comparison of MMPI-2 validity in African American and Caucasian psychiatric inpatients

This study investigated ethnic differences on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) in 229 African American and 1,558 Caucasian psychiatric inpatients. Mean differences were found on several MMPI-2 validity and clinical scales. These were generally consistent with differences between the groups, indicated by the available extratest criterion data. To identify potential bias, the authors conducted 65 step-down hierarchical multiple regression analyses, predicting conceptually relevant clinical criteria from either MMPI-2 clinical or content scales for each gender. A number of MMPI-2 scales evidenced bias reflecting minor underprediction of psychopathology in African Americans. It is important to note that, in almost all cases, the magnitude of these differences was small and not clinically significant.     

Identifying faking bad on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent with Mexican adolescents

This study examined the extent to which the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent identified Mexican adolescents who were instructed to fake bad. Validity scales data were used to differentiate between nonclinical adolescents instructed to fake bad and both clinical and nonclinical adolescents who received standard instructions. Participants were 59 male and 87 female Mexican high school students and 59 male and 87 female Mexican adolescents from clinical settings. This is the first study onfaking with adolescents in Mexico. The F, Fl, and F2 Scales and the F-K index discriminated adequately between the three different groups. Results were similar to those previously reportedfor adults and adolescents in Mexico and the United States. High positive and negative predictive powers and overall hit rates were obtained in this study. Higher cut scores were needed to discriminate between the groups of girls than between the groups of boys.     

Incremental validity of the MMPI-A content scales in a residential treatment facility

The current study explores the incremental validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) content scales. Participants were 335 adolescents (250 boys and 85 girls) between the ages of 13 and 18 who were receiving mental health services from a residential treatment facility. Regression analyses were conducted to identify the amount of additional variance accounted for by the content scales over the clinical scales in predicting scores on a clinician rating form of psychological symptomatology. Several of the MMPI-A content scales demonstrated significant incremental validity above the clinical scales in predicting clinician ratings of adolescents' behavior and personality characteristics. The clinical scales also demonstrated incremental validity in reference to the content scales, indicating then that the two sets of scales provide complementary information. Magnitude of the additional criterion variance predicted was modest.     

Mapping the MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF Restructured Clinical Scales Onto Mood Markers in an Israeli Sample

This study cross-culturally evaluated the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2/MMPI–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF) emotion-focused Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales to examine whether their patterns of associations with positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are as expected based on Tellegen, Watson, and Clark's (1999a Tellegen, A., Watson, D., &; Clark, L. A. (1999a). Further support for a hierarchical model of affect. Psychological Science, 10, 307–309.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1999b Tellegen, A., Watson, D., &; Clark, L. A. (1999b). On the dimensional and hierarchical structure of affect. Psychological Science, 10, 297–303.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) mood model. The sample was composed of 100 men and 133 women from psychiatric settings in Israel who completed the MMPI–2 and the Mood Check List (MCL; Zevon &; Tellegen, 1982 Zevon, M. A., &; Tellegen, A. (1982). The structure of mood change: An idiographic/nomothetic analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 111–122.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Results indicated that RCd was substantially correlated with both PA and NA in opposite directions, and that RC2 and RC7 were more highly correlated with PA and NA, respectively. Further, when compared with their Clinical Scale counterparts, RC2 and RC7 exhibited comparable convergent validities and improved discriminant properties. Findings provide support for Tellegen et al.'s (2003 Tellegen, A., Ben-Porath, Y. S., McNulty, J. L., Arbisi, P. A., Graham, J. R., &; Kaemmer, B. (2003). MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales: Development, validation, and interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. [Google Scholar]) goal to link the RC scales to contemporary conceptualizations of mood.