Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used and extensively researched psychodiagnostic instrument that has received some attention regarding its use with racial and ethnic populations. Most of this attention has focused on scaled score differences observed between White and African American individuals, with conclusions ranging from questions about the instruments integrity and fairness in its use with diverse populations, to theories that these differences reflect individual and environmental disparities between groups. Despite a number of studies focusing on racial differences on the MMPI and its revised form, the MMPI-2, few studies have examined whether these differences exist on the newer MMPI-2-Restructured Form (RF). The present study sought to examine whether racial differences were observed on the MMPI-2-RF using a sample of White and African American college students ( N = 841). Based on previous studies which regarded these differences as due to environmental factors, this study explored whether racial differences on the measure were explained or minimized when accounting for several individual and environmental factors, including: individual psychological history, family psychological history, place of residency (rural versus urban environment), and socioeconomic status. Last, an exploratory analysis was conducted examining item endorsement on scales where racial differences were observed. Results of the present study found clinically significant differences between White and African American participants on 24 of the 51 MMPI-2-RF scales. However, this study largely failed to find that individual/environmental factors accounted for the differences found by race on these scales. The implications of these findings are discussed, specifically with regard to the possibility of these racial differences reflecting differing lived experiences or cultural characteristics between groups.
Recommended Citation
Gonzalez, Yelena, "Sources Of Black-White Differences In Mmpi-2-Rf Scores Among Traditionally Aged College Students" (2019). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1714.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1714