The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology. Psychologists and other mental health professionals use various versions of the MMPI to help develop treatment plans; assist with differential diagnosis; help answer legal questions (forensic psychology); screen job candidates during the personnel selection process; or as part of a therapeutic assessment procedure.
The original MMPI was developed by Starke R. Hathaway and J. C. McKinley, faculty of the
History of the MMPI
The original authors of the MMPI were Starke R. Hathaway, PhD, and J. C. McKinley, MD. The MMPI is copyrighted by the
The MMPI was designed as an adult measure of psychopathology and personality structure in 1939. Many additions and changes to the measure have been made over time to improve interpretability of the original Clinical Scales. Additionally, there have been changes in the number of items in the measure, and other adjustments which reflect its current use as a tool towards modern psychopathy and personality disorders. The most historically significant developmental changes include:
- In 1989, the MMPI became the MMPI-2 as a
result of a restandardization project to develop a new set of normative
data representing current population characteristics; the
restandardization increased the size of the normative database to include
a wide range of clinical and non-clinical samples; psychometric
characteristics of the Clinical Scales were not addressed at that time
- In 2003, the Restructured Clinical Scales
were added to the published MMPI-2, representing a reconstruction of the
original Clinical Scales designed to address known psychometric flaws in
the original Clinical Scales that unnecessarily complicated their
interpretability and validity, but could not be addressed at the same time
as the restandardization process
Specifically, Demoralization – a non-specific distress component
thought to impair the discriminant validity of many self-report measures
of psychopathology – was identified and removed from the original Clinical
Scales. Restructuring the Clinical Scales was the initial step toward
addressing the remaining psychometric and theoretical problems of the
MMPI-2.
- In 2008, the MMPI-2-RF (Restructured Form)
was published to psychometrically and theoretically fine tune the
measure The MMPI-2-RF contains 338
items, contains 9 validity and 42 homogeneous substantive scales, and
allows for a straightforward interpretation strategy. The MMPI-2-RF was
constructed using a similar rationale used to create the Restructured
Clinical (RC) Scales. The rest of the measure was developed utilizing
statistical analysis techniques that produced the RC Scales as well as a
hierarchical set of scales similar to contemporary models of
psychopathology to inform the overall measure reorganization. The entire
measure reconstruction was accomplished using the original 567 items
contained in the MMPI-2 item pool. The MMPI-2 Restandardization norms were
used to validate the MMPI-2-RF; over 53,000 correlations based on more
than 600 reference criteria are available in the MMPI-2-RF Technical
Manual for the purpose of comparing the validity and reliability of
MMPI-2-RF scales with those of the MMPI-2. Across multiple studies and as
supported in the technical manual, the MMPI-2-RF performs as good as or,
in many cases, better than the MMPI-2.
The MMPI-2-RF is a streamlined measure. Retaining only 338 of the original 567 items, its hierarchical scale structure provides non-redundant information across 51 scales that are easily interpretable. Validity Scales were retained (revised), two new Validity Scales have been added (Fs in 2008 and RBS in 2011), and there are new scales that capture somatic complaints. All of the MMPI-2-RF's scales demonstrate either increased or equivalent construct and criterion validity compared to their MMPI-2 counterparts
Current versions of the test (MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF) can be completed on optical scan forms or administered directly to individuals on the computer. The MMPI-2 can generate a Score Report or an Extended Score Report, which includes the Restructured Clinical Scales from which the Restructured Form was later developed. The MMPI-2 Extended Score Report includes scores on the Original Clinical Scales as well as Content, Supplementary, and other subscales of potential interest to clinicians. Additionally, the MMPI-2-RF computer scoring offers an option for the administrator to select a specific reference group with which to contrast and compare an individual's obtained scores; comparison groups include clinical, non-clinical, medical, forensic, and pre-employment settings, to name a few. The newest version of the Pearson Q-Local computer scoring program offers the option of converting MMPI-2 data into MMPI-2-RF reports as well as numerous other new features. Use of the MMPI is tightly controlled. Any clinician using the MMPI is required to meet specific test publisher requirements in terms of training and experience, must pay for all administration materials including the annual computer scoring license and is charged for each report generated by computer.
Scoring and Interpretation
Like many
standardized tests, scores on the various scales of the MMPI-2 and the
MMPI-2-RF are not representative of either percentile rank or how
"well" or "poorly" someone has done on the test. Rather,
analysis looks at relative elevation of factors compared to the various norm
groups studied. Raw scores on the scales are transformed into a standardized metric
known as T-scores (Mean or Average equals 50, Standard Deviation equals 10),
making interpretation easier for clinicians. Test manufacturers and publishers
ask test purchasers to prove they are qualified to purchase the
MMPI/MMPI-2/MMPI-2-RF and other tests.
No comments:
Post a Comment