Cognitive and behavioral predictors of MMPI scores in pretrial psychological evaluations of murderers.
Tested by multivariate regression the validity of the MMPI with accused murderers (N = 96) who were undergoing pre-trial evaluations. Four significant behavioral and cognitive predictors of MMPI elevated scores were identified. These include low intelligence, history of drug abuse, suspiciousness observed on the ward, and the fact that the accused was a stranger to the victim. These results support the validity of the MMPI with this population and also suggest that high F scale scores on the MMPI are more a measure of psychopathology than invalidity due to test-taking response bias.
D003417:Criminal Psychology; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011594:Psychometrics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence