New subscales for the MMPI-2 Social Introversion (Si) scale.

The development of three new content-homogeneous subscales for the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher et al, 1989) Social Introversion (Si) scale designed to replace the K. Serkownek (1975) subscales, which were not included in the revised MMPI, is described. The subscales, termed Shyness/Self-Consciousness, Social Avoidance, and Self/Other Alienation, were developed with data provided by college students (515 men and 797 women). Data analyses with this and the MMPI-2 normative sample demonstrated that the new subscales independently contribute to the assessment of nearly 90% of the variance in the full Si scale, that they display both convergent and divergent validity, and that these attributes generalize beyond the sample with which they were developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of MMPI--2 measures of psychopathic deviance in a forensic setting.

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI--2) measures of psychopathy, including the Clinical Scale 4, Restructured Clinical Scale 4 (RC4), Content Scale Antisocial Practices (ASP), and Personality Psychopathology Five Scale Disconstraint (DISC). Comparisons of the empirical correlates of these scales were conducted with 2 samples of participants evaluated at a criminal court clinic. The 2 samples included 59 men and 19 women and 913 men and 327 women, respectively. Two types of criteria (clinician ratings and archival record review) were utilized in the analyses. Relative to Clinical Scale 4, RC4 had significantly greater convergent validity in predicting psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist--Screening Version (S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995) and behavioral criteria associated with this construct. RC4 also showed substantially improved discriminant validity when compared with its Clinical Scale counterpart. Among all the MMPI-2 scales studied, RC4 was the best measure of the social deviance traits of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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 (MMPT-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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The comparability of MMPI and MMPI-2 scales and profiles.

The revised form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) incorporates a number of changes that necessitate an investigation into the comparability of its scale scores and clinical profile to those of the original MMPI. In the current study, differences between scores obtained by 189 college students who completed both the original and revised forms of the MMPI were compared with differences between scores obtained by 188 other students who were administered the original form twice. Results indicated substantial congruence between the cross-administration stability of scores and profiles obtained by the two groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of and Consumer Satisfaction With an Assertive Community Treatment Program for the Severely Mentally Ill: A 3-Year Follow-Up.

Assertive community treatment (ACT) programs have made substantial strides in reducing inpatient hospitalizations and in improving the lives of individuals with a severe mental illness. However, few studies have investigated their effectiveness outside of a 24-month treatment period. The present study investigated treatment outcomes in an ACT program over a 36-month period. Results indicate that participants experienced a statistically significant reduction in hospital bed days during the first 2 years of treatment. Positive outcomes were demonstrated on other variables, including an increase in compliance with outpatient psychiatric appointments and a reduction in emergency outpatient contacts. Results indicate that clients and family members were satisfied overall with ACT services, but family members reported greater satisfaction than clients in all areas assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The new uniform T scores for the MMPI—2: Rationale, derivation, and appraisal.

Although normative distributions of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 (MMPI—2) clinical and content scales tend to be positively skewed, individual scales differ in degree of skewness. The linear T scores in use with the original MMPI preserve these skewness differences. For the MMPI—2, a Uniform T (UT score) transformation has been adopted. Its target distribution is the positively skewed composite (or prototypical) linear T score distribution of MMPI—2 clinical scales. UT scores are percentile comparable, yet, unlike normalized T scores, depart minimally from the familiar linear T scores. The authors describe the UT score derivation, report degree of percentile comparability achieved, and argue that the positive skewness of the UT-score distributions, besides minimizing discontinuity, is conceptually meaningful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Five big issues in clinical personality assessment: A rejoinder to Costa and McCrae.

Responds to P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae's reply (see record 1992-25762-001) to the Y. S. Ben-Porath and N. G. Waller article (see record 1992-25755-001) by clarifying the following points: (1) "Normal" personality instruments such as the NEO Personality Inventory should not be used in place of clinical measures, but may serve to provide useful supplemental information; (2) evaluation of the clinical validity of individual test protocols is a vital component of clinical assessment; (3) ordering of scales on a profile implies configural interpretation of test scores, which is common practice in clinical assessment; (4) anxiety, depression, and impulsiveness are viewed by some clinicians as being related to different higher order domains; and (5) clinical correlates thought to be associated with conscientiousness are readily assessable by clinical inventories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)