Graphomotor interpretation of the MMPI-2?

Although clinicians may attribute various personality features to patients who complete paper-and-pencil instruments (e.g., the MMPI-2) with notable neatness (compulsivity?) or sloppiness (oppositionalism?), such inferences have not been empirically examined. In our investigation, MMPI-2 protocols of 154 psychiatric inpatients (74 female and 80 male, M age = 36.7) were examined. A scoring system was developed to categorize the degree of neatness with which each patient had filled in the MMPI-2 response sheet (interrater Cohen Kappa = 0.86). Degree of neatness was not found to be correlated with clinical or content scales on the MMPI-2, with any Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) scales, or with various Rorschach (Comprehensive System) variables. These results imply that, clinical lore notwithstanding, clinicians should refrain from drawing unwarranted inferences about patients' personality features on the basis of the apparent neatness or sloppiness of patients' protocols.