MMPI differences among black, Mexican-American, and white male offenders

MMPI scores of black, Mexican-American, and white male offenders were compared in order to investigate whether cultural and/or socioeconomomic factors affect this personality inventory. Comparisons were performed on unmatched and matched (education and occupation) groups that utilized all profiles or valid ones only and examined both trait (individual scales) and type (Goldberg indices) differences. Black-white differences on the MA, K, and HY scales appeared to reflect cultural factors, while differences on MF and alcoholism seemed to be accounted for by socieconomic differences among the groups. Cultural factors seemed to be related to differences between Mexican-Americans and white on the L,K,and overcontrolled hostility scales, while socioeconomic factors appeared to explain differences on the Hs scale. Type differences were not apparent except that Mexican-Americans were classified more often as psychiatric, while whites and blacks scored well into the sociopathic range.