The Meaning of Low Scores on MMPI-2 Clinical Scales of Normal Subjects

Abstract

Low scores often have been ignored in validity research on the MMPI, yet these statistically significant deviations from the norm may be valuable sources of information and occur frequently enough to merit further investigation. The meaning of low scores on the MMPI-2 was examined for 822 male-female partner pairs in the MMPI-2 restandardization sample. Subjects were divided by MMPI-2 scale scores into high-, medium-, and low-score groups. Analyses of variance were performed with score level as the independent variable and partner ratings as dependent variables. Significant differences were found between the low- and medium-score groups with low scorers rated as better adjusted than medium scorers. More significant differences were found between the high-score and medium-score groups than between the low-score and medium-score groups; this suggested that high scores on MMPI-2 clinical scales are associated with poorer adjustment.