Provisional statistics for MMPI-2 Dependency Prejudice, Social Status, Control, and Low Back Pain Scales

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Personality testing
• Clinical psychology

Background:

• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used psychological assessment tool.
• The MMPI-2 is a revised version of the MMPI, with updated norms and content.
• Understanding normative data is crucial for accurate interpretation of test results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide provisional statistics for specific Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scales.
• To compare scale scores between the original MMPI normative sample and the MMPI-2 normative group.
• To highlight differences in Dependency (Dy), Prejudice (Pr), Social Status (St), Control (Cn), and Low Back Pain (Lb) scale scores.

Main Methods:

• Utilized provisional statistics derived primarily from the 1957 MMPI normative sample (Hathaway and Briggs).
• Calculated and presented means for the MMPI-2 normative group.
• Compared scale scores between the MMPI and MMPI-2 samples for both men and women.

Main Results:

• The MMPI-2 normative group exhibited higher scores on the Social Status (St) and Low Back Pain (Lb) scales compared to the original MMPI sample.
• Conversely, the MMPI-2 group demonstrated lower scores on the Dependency (Dy), Prejudice (Pr), and Control (Cn) scales.
• These differences were observed in both male and female participants.

Conclusions:

• The MMPI-2 normative data reveals distinct score patterns compared to the original MMPI sample for several key scales.
• These findings underscore the importance of using MMPI-2 specific norms for accurate psychological assessment.
• The observed shifts in scores suggest potential changes in population characteristics or test interpretation over time.