Adapting assessment processes to consider cultural mistrust in forensic practices: An example with the MMPI...

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Cultural psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Distinguishing cultural mistrust from clinical paranoia is crucial in psychological assessments, particularly for diverse populations.
• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used tool, with updated versions like the MMPI-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and MMPI-3.
• Previous research has not fully elucidated culturally specific items that may reflect mistrust rather than psychopathology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify specific items on the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3 that may be endorsed due to cultural mistrust among people of color.
• To compare the endorsement rates of these cultural mistrust critical items (CMCIs) and the Ideas of Persecution scale (RC6) across different cultural groups.
• To examine these patterns in both nonclinical college students and forensic inpatient samples.

Main Methods:

• Expert raters (Black psychologists) identified potential CMCIs on the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3.
• Nonclinical samples of Black, Latina/o, and White college students were compared on CMCI and RC6 item endorsement.
• Forensic inpatient samples of Black, Latina/o, and White individuals were similarly compared using the MMPI-2-RF.

Main Results:

• Black college students endorsed CMCIs at higher rates than Latina/o and White students, with small-to-medium effect sizes.
• Latina/o college students showed intermediate endorsement rates.
• While some item-level differences were noted in the forensic sample, the overall pattern of CMCI endorsement did not significantly differ across cultural groups in this population.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that certain MMPI items may capture cultural mistrust, particularly among Black college students, distinct from clinical paranoia.
• The attenuated differences in the forensic sample highlight the complexity of interpreting these items in clinical settings with high psychopathology rates.
• Further research is needed to understand the multifaceted reasons for reporting cultural mistrust versus clinical paranoia in forensic assessments.