Linking the psychopathology five scales of the MMPI-2-RF to the personality pattern and clinical syndrome scales of the MCMI-III: a study of concurrent and construct validity
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Abstract
The MMPI, published in 1943, considered for years the gold standard for objective personality assessment, was revised in 1989 and published as the MMPI-2. In 1991, a revised version of the MMPI-2 was published which included the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales. In 2008 the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (RF) scale was published and the PSY-5 scales were revised in the RF form. Another widely employed instrument is the MCMI-III (2009) which is the fourth iteration of the inventory and contains well researched Personality Pattern Scales and Clinical Syndrome Scales. This instrument will be used as a criterion to further examine the validity of the MMPI-2-RF PSY-5 scales. The current study investigates the revised Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales of the MMPI-2-RF and how they map onto the Clinical Syndrome, Severe Clinical Syndrome, Clinical Personality and the Severe Personality scales of the MCMI-III. A significant pattern of convergence was noted between the PSY-5r scales and expected diagnostic scales of the MCMI-III through zero order correlation analysis, which was further supported when the Personality Pattern and Clinical Syndrome scales of the MCMI-III were regressed onto the PSY-5r demonstrating conceptually expected patterns of covariation. Furthermore, two separate exploratory factor analyses were conducted with the PSY-5r scales and the Personality Pattern and Clinical Syndrome scales of the MCMI-III indicating two three factor solutions. These results clearly demonstrate that the PSY-5r scales of the MMPI-2-RF possess clinical utility in the assessment of personality disorders as they stand in Section II of the current DSM-5. They also provide further evidence of convergent validity of the scales against another widely used personality assessment which focuses specifically on DSM-IV Personality Disorder diagnoses.