Dissertation

An estimate of equivalency between the MMPI and the MMPI-2 and the differential discriminative effectiveness of the clinical and content scales in predicting presenting concerns in a ministerial clinical population

Van Epp, John Christian

1996

Overview

The general purpose of this study was to examine the comparability of the MMPI and the MMPI-2 in relation to their ability to differentiate presenting concerns of a ministerial population. The problem investigated in this study was three-fold: (a) to determine whether or not in a clinical, outpatient population the clinical scales of the MMPI and the MMPI-2 produce highly similar T scores and highest-point scale codes and differentiate presenting problems with a similar hit rate; (b) to determine whether the Family Problems and Work Interference Content scales of the MMPI-2 account for a significant amount of unique variance in differentiating between presenting concerns of marital conflict and work conflicts independent of the clinical scales; and (c) to determine whether the clinical scales of the MMPI-2 account for a significant amount of unique variance in differentiating between presenting concerns of marital conflict and work conflicts independent of the Family Problems and Work Interference Content scales of the MMPI-2. This investigation employed an ex post facto design. The subjects under investigation were drawn from male ministers who received testing and counseling at EMERGE Counseling Center in Akron, Ohio during the years 1989 to 1993. The presenting concerns that had been generated by the case histories of these 300 ministers were classified into seven categories: depression, marital conflict, sexual concerns, extramarital affair, work conflicts, anxiety and stress, and anger problems. The descriptive statistics included means, standard deviations, ranges, and frequencies. The General Linear Model and chi-square procedures were utilized to test the research hypotheses and data analyses. No significant differences were found between the clinical scales of the MMPI and the MMPI-2, or between the eight clinical scales and the two Content scales of the MMPI-2 when differentiating between presenting concerns. In both tests, the clinical scales significantly differentiated between the presenting concerns. However, the single highest pathological score did not significantly differentiate between the presenting concerns in either test. This study supported the equivalency of the two instruments. Implications were drawn from this study regarding the equivalency and the efficacy of the scales and scale codes of the two tests.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Academic guidance counseling / Clergy / Clinical psychology / Psychotherapy / School counseling
• ISBN: 0591081490, 9780591081497