Examining Current Conceptualizations of Psychopathology With the MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF Restructured Clinical Scales: Preliminary Findings From a Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

Watson (2005) proposed a hierarchical reorganization of the underlying structure of emotional disorders. This study cross-culturally evaluated Watson's (2005) structure of mood and anxiety disorders, using mainly dichotomous criteria, and explored the placement of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) in this model. It also tested Sellbom, Ben-Porath, and Bagby's (2008) proposed elaboration of the 2-factor model (positive and negative activation) that incorporates a higher order dimension of demoralization. One hundred men and 133 women from psychiatric settings in Israel completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (Butcher et al., 2001) and the Maudsley Obsessional–Compulsive Inventory (Hodgson & Rachman, 1977). They were interviewed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Sheehan et al., 1998). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated Watson's structure for women but not for men. Mixed results were obtained regarding OCD's location in the model. Findings among women support the applicability of Watson's (2005) model across a variety of assessment modalities, as well as in a different language and for diversified cultural backgrounds. This conclusion, however, should be tempered in consideration of the results among men. Findings also provide evidence of the importance of demoralization in mood and anxiety disorders.

Acknowledgments

The first author is grateful to Moshe Almagor for his support and encouragement. The authors would like to thank Pavel Goldstein for his assistance with the statistical analyses.

Funding

The study was partially funded by Haifa University Economic Corporation, Carmel.

Disclosure

Moshe Almagor is the director of the Personality Assessment Laboratory at the University of Haifa. As a developer of the Hebrew version of the MMPI–2, he receives royalties from the University of Haifa. Yossef S. Ben-Porath serves as a paid consultant to the MMPI publisher, the University of Minnesota Press, and the test distributor, Pearson Assessments. As a coauthor for the MMPI–2/MMPI–2–RF, he receives royalties on sales of the test.