Acculturation and the MMPI Performance of Chicano and Anglo College Students

Abstract

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and an acculturation inventory consisting of 15 semantic differential and sociocultural items were administered to Chicano college students. Factor analysis produced a four-dimensional measure of acculturation. The multivariate relationships between the multidimensional measure of acculturation and MMPI validity and clinical scales were investigated by means of canonical correlational analysis. Two of the canonical correlations were significant. Differences in language use, generation and citizenship of head of household (Nationality-Language factor) were related to differences on L, Hs, and MF scales, with less acculturated subjects scoring higher on L and Hs scales and lower on the MF scale. Differences in socioeconomic status (SES factor) and attitudes toward the concept "male" (Male-Potency factor) were related to differences on L, K, and Pd scales, with less acculturated students scoring lower on L and K, and higher on Pd. Implications for future cross-cultural research and the difficulties in the psychological assessment of the heterogeneous Chicano population are discussed.

Anglo- and Mexican-American performance on the MMPI administered in Spanish or English

“…Anglos and Mexican-Americans who took the test in English differed statistically on only the L scale, although the Mexican-Americans did score higher on all the other nonsignificant scales than did the Anglos. Previous MMPI studies that compared Anglo and Mexican-Americans have found very inconsistent results, which both Montgomery and Orozco (1983) and Padilla et al (1982) attributed to differences in levels of acculturation. The results of the present study also generally support an acculturation explanation for Anglo-Hispanic MMPI differences, assuming that language preference is taken as the major component of acculturation.…”

“…One reason for such inconsistencies put forth by two groups of investigators (Montgomery & Orozco, 1983; Padilla et al, 1982) was differences in levels of acculturation for the various groups of Mexican-Americans that were studied. Padilla et al administered the MMPI along with an acculturation instrument, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA) developed by Cuellar, Harris, and Jasso (1980), to a college student population.…”

Latino Outlook: Good Health, Uncertain Prognosis

“…These include: de creased fiber consumption (30); decreased breast feeding (25); increased use of cigarettes (48); increased alcohol consumption-especially in younger women 04, 39, 58,60,76) and driving under the influence of alcohol (22); and increased use of illicit drugs (1,75,80,82,86,92). Some studies have also documented that depressive symptomatology increases with ac culturation (13,42,52,67,79,96), although the relationship between depression and acculturation remains controversial (86).…”

Mexican Americans' performance on the MMPI as a function of level of acculturation

“…Seven of the eight studies have employed "difference of means tests" (Pritchard & Rosenblatt, 1980), such as t or F tests, to compared performance of Mexican American vs. Anglo subjects. One study (Padilla et al, 1982) used a canonical correlational analysis, which will be discussed separately. Among the seven studies that used difference of means tests, three trends can be seen: (a) Mexican Americans were more elevated on the L scale in six of the seven studies; (b) male Anglo subjects were more elevated on the MF scale than Mexican Americans (Penk et al, 1981;Plemons, 1977), while female Mexican Americans have been found to be more elevated than Anglo females (McGill, 1980); and (c) Plemons (1977) and McCreary and Padilla (1977) found Mexican Americans to be more elevated on the K scale than Anglos.…”

“…If some allowance were made for the degree of acculturation of Mexican American subjects, it may be that there would be more consistency in the results of MMPI studies in which Mexican and Anglo American performance is compared. Padilla et al (1982) obtained a measure of acculturation and MMPI scores for a college subject population. They then performed a canonical correlational analysis among the four factors extracted from the acculturation scale, and the K-corrected MMPI variables.…”