title: Validity of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – 2 – Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) scores as a function of gender, ethnicity, and age of bariatric surgery candidates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Presurgical psychological screening is used to identify factors that may impact postoperative adherence and surgical outcomes in bariatric surgery candidates. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - 2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) findings have demonstrated utility for this task.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore whether there are clinically meaningful gender, ethnicity, or age differences in presurgical MMPI-2-RF scores and the validity of these scores in bariatric surgery candidates.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample was composed of 872 men and 2337 women. Ethnicity/race groups included 2,204 Caucasian, 744 African American, and 96 Hispanic individuals. A sample of 165 were not included in the ethnicity/race analyses because they were of another descent. Ages groups included 18-35 year olds (n = 454), 36-49 year olds (n = 1154), 50-64 year olds, (n = 1246), and 65 years old or older (n = 355). Validity data, obtained via a retrospective chart review, were available for a subset patients (n = 1,268) who were similarly distributed. Step-down hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess for differential validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bariatric surgery candidates produced comparable MMPI-2-RF scores in all subsamples, indicating that the test norms generalize across demographic groups. Validity findings were also generally comparable, indicating that MMPI-2-RF scores have the same interpretive implications in demographically diverse subgroups of bariatric surgery candidates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MMPI-2-RF can assist in presurgical psychological screening of demographically diverse bariatric surgery candidates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Marek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
authors.forename: Yossef S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Ben-Porath
authors.affiliation: Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sellbom
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: McNulty
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. Electronic address: rmarek1@kent.edu.
authors.forename: Leslie J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Heinberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D015995:Prevalence; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age; Assessment; Bariatric surgery candidates; Demographic characteristics; Diversity; Ethnicity; Evaluation; Gender; MMPI-2-RF; Obesity; Presurgical Psychological Screening