Yossef S. Ben-Porath

An MMPI-2 infrequent response scale for use with psychopathological populations: The Infrequency-Psychopathology Scale, F(p) .

This article describes the development and initial validation of a new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) scale designed to detect infrequent responding in settings characterized by relatively high base rates of psychopathology and psychological distress. The Infrequency-Psychopathology Scale, F(p), was developed by identifying a set of 27 MMPI-2 items answered infrequently by both inpatients and the MMPI-2 normative sample. The new scales construct validity was examined through tests of a series of hypotheses derived from an analysis of the reasons for elevated Infrequency (F) and Infrequency-Back (Fb) scores in inpatient settings. The F(p) scales incremental validity was explored by comparing its performance to that of the F scale. The results of this study suggest that F(p) may be used as an adjunct to F in settings characterized by relatively high base rates of psychopathology and psychological distress. An important feature contributing to the clinical usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) is the availability of scales that assess the validity of individual test protocols. The importance of appraising the validity of individual test scores was recognized by Hathaway and McKinley (1943), who included two validity scales, Lie (L) and Infrequency (F) in the original version of the MMPI. The F scale was developed as an infrequent-response indicator by identifying 64 items that were answered infrequently in the

Gender and coping: The dual-axis model of coping

Examined a dual-axis model of coping that included both action (active vs. passive) and social dimensions (prosocial vs. antisocial) of coping strategies among a combined sample of students and community residents. We developed an assessment device to represent the model and allow investigation. Mixed support for the model and instrument were noted. Women were more prosocial than men in their coping, but no less active. Men were more likely to use antisocial and aggressive, but less assertive coping strategies than women. More prosocial, action coping strategies were also more likely to be related to greater sense of mastery and more liberal gender-role orientation. Antisocial and passive strategies tended to be related to lower mastery and more traditional gender-role orientation. Active coping was related to lower emotional distress for men and women, but both prosocial and antisocial coping were related to greater emotional distress for men, suggesting that men may have a narrower band of beneficial coping strategies than do women.

Development and validation of a Response Bias Scale (RBS) for the MMPI-2.

This study describes the development of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) scale designed to detect negative response bias in forensic neuropsychological or disability assessment settings. The Response Bias Scale (RBS) consists of 28 MMPI-2 items that discriminated between persons who passed or failed the Word Memory Test (WMT), Computerized Assessment of Response Bias (CARB), and/or Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) in a sample of 1,212 nonhead-injury disability claimants. Incremental validity of the RBS was evaluated by comparing its ability to detect poor performance on four separate symptom validity tests with that of the F and FP scales and the Fake Bad Scale (FBS). The RBS consistently outperformed F, FP, and FBS. Study results suggest that the RBS may be a useful addition to existing MMPI-2 validity scales and indices in detecting symptom complaints predominantly associated with cognitive response bias and overreporting in forensic neuropsychological and disability assessment settings.

Mapping the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical scales onto normal personality traits: evidence of construct validity.

The MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC; Tellegen et al., 2003) scales were developed to remove common factor variance that saturates the clinical scales and create a more distinct set of measures, yielding a new set of scales with improved convergent and discriminant validity. In this study, we examined the relation between RC scale scores and scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, in press), a measure of normal personality, using a sample of 811 college students. The results indicate strong convergence between the RC scales and expected MPQ higher order factors and primary scales. The RC scales also demonstrated expected improved convergent and discriminant validity over the clinical scales.

Incremental Validity of the MMPI-2-RF Over-reporting Scales and RBS in Assessing the Veracity of Memory Complaints

The Response Bias Scale (RBS) has been found to be a better predictor of over-reported memory complaints than Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) F, Back Infrequency (Fb), Infrequency-Psychopathology (Fp), and FBS scales. The MMPI-2-Restructured Form (RF) validity scales were designed to meet or exceed the sensitivity of their MMPI-2 counterparts to symptom over-reporting. This study examined the incremental validity of MMPI-2-RF validity scales and RBS in assessing memory complaints. The MMPI-2-RF over-reporting validity scales were more strongly associated with mean Memory Complaints Inventory scores than their MMPI-2 counterparts (d = 0.22 to 0.49). RBS showed the strongest relationship with memory complaints. Regression analyses demonstrated the incremental validity of the MMPI-2-RF Infrequent Responses, Infrequent Psychopathology Responses, Infrequent Somatic Responses, and FBS-r scales relative to MMPI-2 F, Fp, and FBS in predicting memory complaints. This is consistent with the development objectives of the MMPI-2-RF validity scales as more efficient and sensitive measures of symptom over-reporting.

Further Validation of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Response Bias Scale: Findings From Disability and Criminal Forensic Settings

The present study extends the validation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Response Bias Scale (RBS; R. O. Gervais, Y. S. Ben-Porath, D. B. Wygant, & P. Green, 2007) in separate forensic samples composed of disability claimants and criminal defendants. Using cognitive symptom validity tests as response bias indicators, the RBS exhibited large effect sizes (Cohens ds = 1.24 and 1.48) in detecting cognitive response bias in the disability and criminal forensic samples, respectively. The scale also added incremental prediction to the traditional MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales in the disability sample and exhibited excellent specificity with acceptable sensitivity at cutoffs ranging from 90T to 120T. The results of this study indicate that the RBS can add uniquely to the existing MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF validity scales in detecting symptom exaggeration associated with cognitive response bias.

Examination of the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Validity Scales in Civil Forensic Settings: Findings from Simulation and Known Group Samples

The current study examined the effectiveness of the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Ben-Porath and Tellegen, 2008) over-reporting indicators in civil forensic settings. The MMPI-2-RF includes three revised MMPI-2 over-reporting validity scales and a new scale to detect over-reported somatic complaints. Participants dissimulated medical and neuropsychological complaints in two simulation samples, and a known-groups sample used symptom validity tests as a response bias criterion. Results indicated large effect sizes for the MMPI-2-RF validity scales, including a Cohens d of .90 for Fs in a head injury simulation sample, 2.31 for FBS-r, 2.01 for F-r, and 1.97 for Fs in a medical simulation sample, and 1.45 for FBS-r and 1.30 for F-r in identifying poor effort on SVTs. Classification results indicated good sensitivity and specificity for the scales across the samples. This study indicates that the MMPI-2-RF over-reporting validity scales are effective at detecting symptom over-reporting in civil forensic settings.

Differential sensitivity of the Response Bias Scale (RBS) and MMPI-2 validity scales to memory complaints

The MMPI-2 Response Bias Scale (RBS) is designed to detect response bias in forensic neuropsychological and disability assessment settings. Validation studies have demonstrated that the scale is sensitive to cognitive response bias as determined by failure on the Word Memory Test (WMT) and other symptom validity tests. Exaggerated memory complaints are a common feature of cognitive response bias. The present study was undertaken to determine the extent to which the RBS is sensitive to memory complaints and how it compares in this regard to other MMPI-2 validity scales and indices. This archival study used MMPI-2 and Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI) data from 1550 consecutive non-head-injury disability-related referrals to the first authors private practice. ANOVA results indicated significant increases in memory complaints across increasing RBS score ranges with large effect sizes. Regression analyses indicated that the RBS was a better predictor of the mean memory complaints score than the F, FB, and FP validity scales and the FBS. There was no correlation between the RBS and the CVLT, an objective measure of verbal memory. These findings suggest that elevated scores on the RBS are associated with over-reporting of memory problems, which provides further external validation of the RBS as a sensitive measure of cognitive response bias. Interpretive guidelines for the RBS are provided.

Identifying Mmpi-2 Predictors of Police Officer Integrity and Misconduct

The study examined the validity of scores on pre-hire administration of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Clinical, Restructured Clinical (RC), and Substance Abuse scales in predicting behavioral misconduct in police officers. The effects of range restriction on predictive validity were examined and corrected for in the analyses. Data from 291 male police officers were analyzed. Outcome measures included Internal Affairs complaints, Civilian Review Authority complaints, involuntary termination from department, and supervisory ratings. Results indicated that the RC scales (particularly RC3, RC4, RC6, and RC8) exhibited the best predictive validity and further challenged the utility of the K-correction of the Clinical scales. Predictive validity was moderate to strong when disattenuating correlations for range restriction. Relative risk analyses revealed that lower cutoffs for MMPI-2 scales (e.g., T = 60 and, in some cases, T = 55) maximized the prediction of police officer misconduct.

The ability of minnesota multiphasic personality inventory - 2 validity scales to detect fake-bad responses in psychiatric inpatients

The effectiveness of P. A. Arbisi and Y. S. Ben-Poraths (1995) Infrequency-Psychopathology Scale, F(p), in discriminating between groups of psychiatric inpatients who were administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) under 2 scripted conditions, honest and fake bad, was examined. The F(p) scales incremental validity, in reference to the Infrequency (F) scale, was tested with 74 Minneapolis Veteran Affairs Medical Center inpatients (64 men and 10 women). The results support the use of F(p) in the detection of malingering in psychiatric patients and indicate that in settings characterized by high base rates of psychopathology, F(p) outperforms F and accounts for all the predictive power when distinguishing between psychiatric inpatients responding honestly and attempting to fake bad.