The MMPI/MMPI-2 personality disorder scales: Contemporary norms for adults and adolescents

Abstract

Eleven personality disorder scales for the MMPI, as described in DSM‐III, were derived by Morey and his colleagues from the original MMPI item pool through a combination of rational and empirical strategies. These new scales have enjoyed popularity among clinicians. Normative tables for each of these scales, with and without overlapping items, were constructed from MMPI responses from a large contemporary normal reference sample of adults and adolescents without any physical or mental handicaps who were selected randomly from a three‐state area in the Midwest. Some items from the Morey Personality Disorder scales were deleted during development of the MMPI‐2; separate normative tables have been prepared for the scales so affected, which allows clinicians who are using the MMPI‐2 to continue to use these slightly modified scales.

Alcoholism and Narcissism

“…The four narcissism scales were developed using the MMPI-1, but they also have been employed with the MMPI-2 (Rathvon & Holmstrom, 1996). However, except for the Morey Scale (Colligan, Morey, & Offord, 1994) specific MMPI-2 items for each instrument have not been pubiished. A first task, therefore, necessarily involved a translation of MMPI-1 items into appropriate MMPI-2 responses for the Ashby, Raskin, and Wink Scales.…”

“…An analysis of the sex factor was necessary because the alcoholic sample tended to have more males, because sex andlor gender role differences may exist in narcissism (e.g., Watson, Taylor, & Morris, 1987), and because self-report measures of narcissism may be biased toward identifying males as narcissistic (e.g., Lindsay & Widiger, 1995). Finally, normative data for normal adults have been reported for the Morey but for none of the other scales (Colligan et al, 1994). It, therefore, was possible to compare the males and females of each group with those norms.…”

Sex and Gender Bias in Self-Report Personality Disorder Inventories: Item Analysis of the MCMI-II, MMPI, and PDQ-R

“…Subsequent to the completion of this study, Colligan, Morey, and Offord (1994) published updated MMPI-2 PD scales. They indicated that only 7 items were deleted during the update, secondary to the item deletions from the MMPI to the MMPI-2.…”

Current issues in the assessment of personality disorders

“…Some of the self-report inventories (eg, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 [MMPI-2] [35,36] and Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III [MCMI-III] [34]) even use overlapping scales that compel a considerable degree and particular direction of diagnostic co-occurrence. Initial data with the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) has suggested that it obtains better differentiation among the personality disorders than is obtained by most other instruments [20,58].…”