Ethnicity and psychopathology: A meta-analytic review of 31 years of comparative MMPI/MMPI-2 research.

Meta-analyses were performed on 25 comparative Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and MMPI-2 studies of 1,428 male African Americans versus 2,837 male European Americans, 12 studies of 1,053 female African Americans versus 1,470 female European Americans, and 13 studies of 500 male Latino Americans and 1,345 male European Americans. Aggregate effect sizes suggest higher scores for ethnic minority groups than for European Americans on some MMPI/MMPI-2 scales and lower scores on others. However, none of the aggregate effect sizes suggest substantive differences from either a statistical or clinical perspective. The MMPI and MMPI-2 apparently do not unfairly portray African Americans and Latinos as pathological. Effect sizes across studies generally did not vary as a function of sociodemographic variables, research setting, or use of the MMPI versus MMPI-2. It is recommended that additional between- and within-ethnic groups psychopathology research continue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI studies of counselors: A review.

Presents a current, systematic review of published MMPI research on counselor characteristics and effectiveness and discussed the importance of continuing research in this area. Counselors appear different from the general norms on the L, K, Hy, Pd, Mf, Ma, Si, Es, Do, Re, St, and Pr scales but only the L, K, Ma, and Si scales distinguish between counselors and persons in other professions. Only the Ma and Sc scales show promise of discriminating between effective and ineffective counselors in training. Weaknesses of the existing research are indicated and 2 basic questions are raised regarding inventory research on counselor effectiveness. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI characteristics of alcoholics: A review.

Empirical research concerning the usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in the identification of personality characteristics of alcoholics is reviewed. Scales, profile configurations, and item analyses are discussed. No single personality type is characteristic of all alcoholics. Although six cluster types occur with consistency, none of these types is unique to alcoholics. A focus on individual differences in future research and treatment planning is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and MMPI performance.

Evaluated the effects of age on MMPI scale scores with intelligence controlled. Data included MMPIs and Wechslers from 420 white hospitalized psychiatric patients. No sex differences were found in relationships among age, intelligence, and MMPI scale scores. Major findings were that T-scores on Scales 4, 6, 8, and 9 are affected by age, scores on Scales L and F by intelligence, and scores on only Scale F by both variables. Although Scale 2 T scores were not affected by age, peak-analysis showed that older patients more often have Scale 2 peaks. This results from decreases in T scores on the other scales, rather than increases on Scale 2. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI and race: A controlled study.

A 4-way, mixed-model, repeated-measures ANOVA; 13 1-way, balanced-cell ANOVA; and chi-square analyses of scales, items, high-points, number of scales with T?≥?70, and 4 high-scale categories were performed on MMPI results of 462 Black and White psychiatric patients matched for sex, age, residence, employment, years of education, marital status, socioeconomic status, and hospital status. Contrary to what has been reported previously, results indicate no differences beyond chance for any of the dependent variables. This finding is attributed to unique initial matching on crucial variables. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A review on the clinical applications of the Chinese MMPI.

Twenty-six studies on the clinical applications of the Chinese version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in China are reviewed. The results show that the basic scales are able to differentiate between normals and psychiatric patients, including schizophrenics, manics, depressives, and neurotics. Distinctive profiles were obtained for the different diagnostic groups, similar to the clinical patterns observed in the United States. The average T scores for Scales F, 2, and 8, which were high among Chinese normals, were further elevated among the patient groups. When the Chinese norm was applied, the T scores on the clinical scales fell under 70 for all patient groups. The Chinese researchers suggested a cutoff value of 60 for the Chinese norm. Concordance between MMPI profiles and clinical diagnoses was high for the schizophrenics and moderate for the other patient groups. The results support the clinical applications of the Chinese MMPI in China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI and MMPI-2 performance of the Chinese: Cross-cultural applicability.

Psychologists are being increasingly asked to evaluate culturally diverse individuals, and it is critical that assessment instruments be appropriately adapted to the populations being evaluated. Chinese Americans have been underrepresented in the normative samples of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; S. R. Hathaway & J. C. McKinley, 1983) and the revised MMPI (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegan, & B. Kaemmer, 1989), and research with exclusive Chinese samples in the United States is lacking. Adaptability studies of the Chinese MMPI in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China, however, have demonstrated the instrument's clinical utility. In this article, MMPI and MMPI-2 studies with Chinese are reviewed. Implications of the instrument's applicability to Chinese in the United States are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A perspective on developments in assessing psychopathology: A critical review of the MMPI and MMPI-2.

Many concerns have been raised about the MMPI, but the emphasis on continuity during its revision precluded addressing many of these problems in the new MMPI-2. In this review, problems with the MMPI and MMPI-2 are explicated in an effort to promote more informed use of this and other tests of psychopathology. Major theoretical concerns include the lack of a consistent measurement model, heterogeneous scale content, and suspect diagnostic criteria. Serious structural problems include the overlap among scales, lack of cross-validation of the scoring keys, inadequacy of measures of response styles, and suspect norms. Six minor problems and new issues for the MMPI-2 are also discussed. It is concluded that although the MMPI-2 is an improvement over the MMPI, both are suboptimal from the perspective of modern psychometric standards for the assessment of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingencies of therapist and trainer performance: A review.

Presents an applied analysis of therapist and trainer behavior in terms of contingencies (i.e., discriminative stimuli), which set the occasion for therapist and trainer responding, and consequences, which reinforce therapist and trainer behaviors. The behavior of therapists and trainers is examined against research in which they executed behavior modification programs in applied settings. Discriminative stimuli for trainer responding are discussed, including protocols, instructions, frequency, and topography of trainee behaviors. A number of trainer responses are reviewed (e.g., the trainer's selection of trainee behavior for modification and the trainer's administration of reinforcements). Consequences of trainer performance are discussed, such as changes in the rate of trainee responding and other trainee reinforcement responses. Finally, training procedures for trainers are reviewed. Guidelines are suggested to help maintain therapist and trainer responding subsequent to training. (5 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The MMPI and chronic pain: A cross-cultural view.

The MMPI scores were studied for 430 male and 180 female Australian chronic pain patients. Analysis revealed mean MMPI profiles (i.e., elevated Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, and Depression clinical scales) and 3 cluster-analytically derived profile types that corresponded closely to findings in the literature on US chronic pain patients. Further, at least some of the behavioral correlates associated with MMPI performance among US pain patients were also found for the Australian pain patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The MMPI: A case study in dissimulation.

Presents a case study in which a 45-yr-old male patient referred by the criminal court received 4 MMPIs over a period of 10 mo. and attempted to present himself as mentally healthy though suffering from a mental disorder. This positive malingering is examined in terms of (a) the findings of previous studies on malingering, (b) the patient's clinically observed dynamics, and (c) the difference between external instructional motivation to dissimulate and internal motivation to do so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nicotine and smoking: A review of effects on human performance.

Examined the effects of nicotine administration and cigarette smoking on human performance to clarify the role of such effects in controlling smoking. The results of 101 studies (129 experiments) published in scientific journals from 1970 to 1993 were reviewed. In nonabstinent smokers and nonsmokers, nicotine enhanced finger tapping and motor responses in tests of attention; cognitive functioning was not reliably enhanced. It is unlikely that these limited performance-enhancing effects of nicotine play an important role in the initiation of cigarette smoking. In contrast, data from abstinent smokers support the conclusion that nicotine deprivation functions to maintain smoking in nicotine-dependent persons, in part, because nicotine can reverse withdrawal-induced deficits in several areas of performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response biases in the MMPI: A sequential analysis.

Conceptions of "response bias" have figured prominently in two dissimilar research areas, psychophysical tasks and assessment techniques. These areas share a common methodological problem—how to assess the contribution of non-content-determined sequential dependencies. A general technique is presented for assessing sequential dependencies in MMPI responses, and in responses to an instructional set to be random in a non-content guessing task. For MMPI responses, the effect of item content clearly overrides any tendency to develop sequential dependencies; response bias is limited to total number of True or False responses. In non-content guessing tasks, sequential dependencies play a major role. This general technique for measuring such biases provides a unifying conceptualization of non-content-determined response patterning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of personality to performance motivation: A meta-analytic review.

This article provides a meta-analysis of the relationship between the 5-factor model of personality and 3 central theories of performance motivation (goal-setting, expectancy, and self-efficacy motivation). The quantitative review includes 150 correlations from 65 studies. Traits were organized according to the 5-factor model of personality. Results indicated that Neuroticism (average validity=-.31) and Conscientiousness (average validity=.24) were the strongest and most consistent correlates of performance motivation across the 3 theoretical perspectives. Results further indicated that the validity of 3 of the Big Five traits--Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness--generalized across studies. As a set, the Big 5 traits had an average multiple correlation of .49 with the motivational criteria, suggesting that the Big 5 traits are an important source of performance motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between safety climate and safety performance: A meta-analytic review.

The current study used meta-analysis to examine the criterion-related validity of the relationships between safety climate, safety performance (participation and compliance), and occupational accidents and injuries. Support was found for the study's hypotheses linking organizational safety climate to employee safety compliance and participation, with the latter demonstrating the stronger relationship; however, the subsequent links to accident involvement were found to be weak, suggesting limited support for a fully mediated model. The relationship between safety climate and accident involvement was found to be moderated by the study design, such that only prospective designs, in which accidents were measured following the measurement of safety climate, demonstrated validity generalization. The implications of the findings and suggestions for further research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The comparative validities of the Rorschach and MMPI: A meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis comparing "undirected" and "conceptual" MMPI studies, and conceptual Rorschach and MMPI studies, indicated the following conclusions, (a) Conceptual work more successfully validates an assessment instrument than does undirected investigation, (b) The validatory success of the "average" conceptual Rorschach study is comparable to that of similar MMPI work. This finding suggests that the former's questionable status may be based on sociocultural factors, rather than scientific ones, (c) The "average" conceptual Rorschach or MMPI study has only modest explanatory power, (d) Investigators' misuse of X2 has resulted in exaggerated effect size in many instances where the statistic was employed. It is suggested that future research be judged on the coherence of its inference processes, the specificity of its predictions, and the amount of variance it explains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparative meta-analysis of Rorschach and MMPI validity.

Two previous meta-analyses concluded that average validity coefficients for the Rorschach and the MMPI have similar magnitudes (L. Atkinson, 1986; K. C. H. Parker et al, see record 1989-14153-001), but methodological problems in both meta-analyses may have impeded acceptance of these results (H. N. Garb et al, see record 1998-11225-011). We conducted a new meta-analysis comparing criterion-related validity evidence for the Rorschach and the MMPI. The unweighted mean validity coefficients (r?s) were .30 for MMPI and .29 for Rorschach, and they were not reliably different (p = .76 under fixed-effects model, p = .89 under random-effects model). The MMPI had larger validity coefficients than the Rorschach for studies using psychiatric diagnoses and self-report measures as criterion variables, whereas the Rorschach had larger validity coefficients than the MMPI for studies using objective criterion variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of mean scores on MMPI scales: A reply.

The practical utility of Edwards' prediction equation was re-examined as well as other psychometric issues raised by him. It was concluded again that the SD scale is not an effective substitute for the MMPI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The MMPI and recidivism.

Compared MMPIs of 80 recidivists and 68 parole successes from a state training school by analyzing mean scale scores, elevations, code types, and mean ranks of the clinical scales. No important differences were identified. Conclusions are (1) the MMPI used alone is not useful in identifying recidivists in relatively homogeneous delinquent populations, (2) its use should be restricted to the exploration of small differences between groups, and (3) the combined use of historical information and the MMPI to identify recidivists needs study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A unidimensional depression scale for the MMPI.

To develop a depression scale that differentiates consistently not only between normal and abnormal samples but also within such samples, items from the MMPI D scale were selected on the basis of consistent relationship to the major dimension or factor underlying the 60 items as determined by a contextual analysis of responses in each of 4 normative samples of 40 Ss (normal and abnormal divided also by sex). The final 30-item scale, called the D30 scale, showed greatly improved within-group distinctions, particularly among normals, dimensionality coefficients (rd) of .97, .95, and .98 being obtained in cross validation in contrast to values of .67, .45, and .87 for the original. Split-half reliability showed improvement despite shorter length, and test-retest estimates in 2 normal samples were .88 and .92. Since part-whole correlations indicated that D30 scale scores account for the systematic differences in scores on the 60-item scale, the D30 scale was recommended for general use in lieu of the original. T score norms based on 424 Ss were presented and scale content discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)