Validity Rates of the Personality Assessment Inventory and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 in a VA Medical Center Setting

Abstract

In this study, we compared protocol validity rates between the MMPI–2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (Morey, 1991) in a veteran population. Veterans (N = 472) were administered both instruments as part of routine psychological evaluations. Profile validity was based on previously published criteria. When applying primary validity indicators, inpatients produced significantly fewer invalid PAI profiles (37%) than MMPI–2 profiles (63%). We found similar results among outpatients for which we considered 47% of MMPI–2 profiles invalid compared to only 21% of PAI profiles. When applying both primary and supplementary validity indicators, both inpatients and outpatients continued to produce fewer invalid PAI profiles than MMPI–2 profiles. We discuss factors that may be related to the differences in validity rates.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Veterans Health Administration.

Notes

^a n = 219.

^b n = 253.

^cRaw scores.

^a n = 219 (above the diagonal).

^b n = 253 (below the diagonal).

*p < .001.

^a n = 219.

^b n = 253.

^cRaw scores.

^dF – K Index (raw) > 26 for males and > 21 for females.

^a n = 219.

^b n = 253.