Detecting fake-good MMPI-A profiles in a correctional facility.

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A; J. N. Butcher et al., 1992) could differentiate between correctional adolescents instructed to fake good and both correctional and noncorrectional adolescents who received standard instructions. The noncorrectional participants (n = 137) were from settings not connected with treatment or correctional facilities, Correctional participants (n = 140) were from a facility in Nonheastern Ohio. Mean profiles resembled those previously reported for adults on the MMPI and MMPI-2 and for adolescents on the MMPI and MMPI-A. It was possible to differentiate between (a) correctional youth instructed to fake good and noncorrectional youth with standard instructions and (b) correctional youth who were faking and correctional youth with standard instructions. Slightly different cutoff scores were needed for these two discriminations.