MMPI-A profiles of Hispanic adolescents

A study was conducted to compare validity, clinical, content, and supplementary scale scores of Hispanic adolescents to normative data on the MMPI-A. Volunteers, 30 boys, 17 girls, were Hispanic adolescents, aged 14 to 18 years from school and after-school settings. Analysis indicated elevated T score means on F1 (66), F2 (68), F (68), L (61), Hs (61), D (63), Sc (62), A-hea (63), A-biz (63), A-lse (61), A-las (60), A-sch (61), and IMM (61) scales for boys. Scores for low aspirations, low self-esteem, immaturity, and school problems were all interrelated. For girls, scores on no scales were elevated, but on several scales mean T scores, Hs, Hy, Ma, Si, A-anx, A-obs, A-hea, A-ang, A-las, MAC-R, and ACK, were below average. This suggests the MMPI-A may underpathologize for girls. Consistent with previous findings, the boys scored higher on the Immaturity Scale than the girls. It was speculated that the boys' dislike for school and low aspirations were related to the lower education and employment of their fathers compared to those for the normative sample. The A-las, A-sch, and IMM scales may prove to be useful in identifying adolescent boys "at-risk" for dropping out of school, if replication with much larger samples confirms present findings.