title: "False feigners": Examining the impact of non-content-based invalid responding on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form content-based invalid responding indicators.
abstract: Misinterpretation of non-content-based invalid (e.g., random, fixed) responding as overreporting or underreporting is likely to adversely impact test interpretation and could bias inferences about examinee intentions. We examined the impact of non-content-based invalid responding on the following Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) content-based invalid responding indicators: Infrequent Responses (F-r), Infrequent Psychopathology Responses (FP-r), Infrequent Somatic Responses (FS), Symptom Validity (FBS-r), Response Bias Scale (RBS), Uncommon Virtues (L-r), and Adjustment Validity (K-r). In 4 samples from which invalid responders were excluded, we systematically inserted increasing percentages of random, acquiescent, or counter-acquiescent item responses ranging from 0% to 100% and examined the impact that non-content-based invalid response styles had on the content-based invalid responding indicators. F-r, FP-r, FS, RBS, and L-r were susceptible to non-content-based invalid responding, whereas FBS-r and K-r were unaffected. Individuals with Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN-r) and True Response Inconsistency (TRIN-r) elevations were removed, and the frequencies of content-based invalid responding elevations were then reexamined for false indications of feigning. Findings were consistent across samples and emphasize the need to screen for non-content-based invalid responding before screening for content-based invalid responding in the assessment of personality and psychopathology. VRIN-r and TRIN-r were useful in detecting most-but not all-cases of non-content-based invalid responding. A small but meaningful percentage of the remaining individuals were misclassified as overreporters (i.e., false feigners) by FP-r and FS. Clinicians should interpret FP-r and FS with some caution in the presence of moderate levels of non-content-based invalid responding. Post hoc examinations of scale characteristics indicated that the most susceptible scales were brief, consisted of rarely endorsed items, included a relatively high percentage of true-keyed items, and required a low percentage of endorsed items to reach clinical significance. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors: Department of Psychology, California State University, Monterey Bay.
authors: Danielle
authors: 0000-0002-4902-0219
authors: D
authors: Burchett
authors: School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University.
authors: Wendy R
authors: WR
authors: Dragon
authors: Department of Psychology, Kent State University.
authors: Ashley M
authors: AM
authors: Smith Holbert
authors: Department of Psychology, Kent State University.
authors: Anthony M
authors: AM
authors: Tarescavage
authors: The Forest Institute of Professional Psychology.
authors: Curtis A
authors: CA
authors: Mattson
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School.
authors: Richard W
authors: RW
authors: Handel
authors: Department of Psychology, Kent State U.
authors: Yossef S
authors: YS
authors: Ben-Porath
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult