MMPI-2 Clinical Correlates for Ten Common Codes

Abstract

A number of researchers have called for the establishment of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) correlate literature that is based directly on investigations of the revised MMPI. The purpose of this study was to examine clinical correlates found for 9 commonly occurring 2-point codes, each of which contained a minimum of 20 patients, and for 82 profiles that were within-normal-limit (WNL) in a sample of 289 female and 308 male psychiatric inpatients. Major findings indicated that descriptors identified for MMPI-2 based codes were generally similar to the established literature for corresponding codes derived from the original MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1967). In addition, correlates identified for the WNL profile suggest that these patients are less likely to exhibit more chronic symptomatology and to have psychological histories marked by less severe psychological disturbance than other inpatients. Overall, the results of this study represent an initial step in the creation of an MMPI-2 correlate literature.