MMPI inmate profiles: suicide completers, suicide attempters, and non-suicidal controls.
Results from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were compared for three groups of male inmates in federal penitentiaries: 47 suicide completers, 43 suicide attempters and, 123 non-suicidal controls. Analyses show that the groups differed on all 10 clinical scales and on at least 8 after Bonferroni correction. Attempters obtained the highest scores on 4 of 8 scales; they also posted the highest scores on 3 others, but differences were significant only against non-suicidal controls. Completers posted the highest score on only one scale (Mf), but the difference was significant only against non-suicidal controls. All told, completers proved more similar to non-suicidal controls than to attempters. Regarding profiles, completers are more strongly correlated with non-suicidal controls (r=0.95) than with attempters (r=0.86); non-suicidal controls are less strongly correlated with attempters (r=0.88). The fact that attempters seem more pathological than the others can mislead clinicians screening for suicide risk.
Daigle
Marc
M
Department of Psychology, University of Québec at Trois-Rivières, Canada. marc_daigle@uqtr.ca
D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*