Cross-Cultural Equivalence and Validity of the Vietnamese MMPI-2: Assessing Psychological Adjustment of Vietnamese Refugees.

The cross-cultural equivalence and validity of the Vietnamese translation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) were examined in a sample of 1st-generation Vietnamese refugees in the United States (N = 143). Respondents completed the Vietnamese MMPI-2, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, a measure of acculturation, and a demographic questionnaire. An inspection of MMPI-2 mean profiles and items showing extreme endorsement rates suggested that certain symptom tendencies and cultural values may be reflected in responses to some MMPI-2 items. Older age, lower acculturation, greater experienced premigration-postmigration traumas, and military veteran status were all associated with elevated MMPI-2 profiles, suggesting that the MMPI-2 functions in a reasonably equivalent and valid way in this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital Adjustment, Child-Rearing Disagreements, and Overreactive Parenting: Predicting Child Behavior Problems.

Using structural equation modeling, the authors evaluated the hypothesis that the relation between marital adjustment and children's behavior problems is mediated by child-rearing disagreements, whose effects are mediated by parents' overreactive discipline. In a community sample, fully or partially mediated models of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of 3- to 7-year-old boys (N = 99) and girls (N = 104) were supported for mothers and fathers in 7 of 8 cases. Child-rearing disagreements always mediated the relation of marital adjustment and child behavior problems, and overreactive discipline was a final mediator in 3 cases. More variance was accounted for in mothers' than fathers' ratings. For mothers' ratings, the most variance was accounted for in boys' externalizing and girls' internalizing behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child Maltreatment, Parent Alcohol- and Drug-Related Problems, Polydrug Problems, and Parenting Practices: A Test of Gender Differences and Four Theoretical Perspectives.

The authors tested how adverse childhood experiences (child maltreatment and parent alcohol- and drug-related problems) and adult polydrug use (as a mediator) predict poor parenting in a community sample (237 mothers and 81 fathers). These relationships were framed within several theoretical perspectives, including observational learning, impaired functioning, self-medication, and parentification-pseudomaturity. Structural models revealed that child maltreatment predicted poor parenting practices among mothers. Parent alcohol- and drug-related problems had an indirect detrimental influence on mothers' parenting and practices through self-drug problems. Among fathers, emotional neglect experienced as a child predicted lack of parental warmth more parental neglect, and sexual abuse experienced as a child predicted a rejecting style of parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial bias in personality assessment: Using the MMPI-2 to predict psychiatric diagnoses of African American and Caucasian chemical dependency inpatients.

An assessment of predictive bias was conducted on numerous scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989), including the Restructured Clinical (RC) scales, in the prediction of clinical diagnostic status for African American and Caucasian male veterans seeking substance abuse treatment. Patients completed a battery of self-report instruments and were administered structured diagnostic interviews. African American patients obtained higher scores across most MMPI-2 scales compared with Caucasians with clinically meaningful elevations (T scores > 5 points) on 3 scales. The RC scales demonstrated strong correlations with diagnoses, however, like other MMPI-2 scales examined in this study, they displayed a general trend of predictive bias. Step-down hierarchical regression procedures (G. J. Lautenschlager & J. L. Mendoza, 1986) indicated the presence of predictive bias for a majority of the scales examined; however, most of these effects were small to modest (accounting for 3%–5% of variance). The pattern of slope and intercept biases across types of MMPI-2 scales differs from prior research and indicates the importance of evaluating bias in various populations and settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)