title: The appropriateness of the MMPI-2 K correction.
abstract: The extent to which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) K scale serves as a suppressor variable that influences the validity of clinical scale scores was examined using 274 male and 425 female outpatients from a community mental health center and 105 male and 247 female clients from a university psychological clinic. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed with MMPI-2 K scale scores and clinical scale scores as predictors and therapist ratings as criteria. In most cases, the K scale did not act as a suppressor Optimal K weights were different from the traditional K corrections. In most instances, there were no significant differences between correlations of therapist ratings with K-corrected and uncorrected clinical scale scores. The results do not support the K scale as a suppressor variable in these settings, although additional research is needed in settings where higher levels of defensiveness are common.
authors.affiliation: Kent State University, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: Deanna L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Barthlow
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Yossef S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Ben-Porath
authors.forename: Auke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tellegen
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: McNulty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States