USING THE MMPI-A TO PREDICT RECIDIVISM IN ADJUDICATED MINORS

This study explored the ability of selected subscales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent; an objective measure of personality used in the psychological evaluation of juvenile delinquents (Archer & Krishnamurthy, 2002), to predict recidivism. Previous literature suggested the subscales refl ecting “excitatory ” behavior have been useful in discriminating delinquent from non-delinquent adolescents. In this study, three scales that refl ect excitatory behavior, including one Clinical Scale (4- Psychopathic Deviate) and two of the Content Scales (Adolescent-Conduct Problems and Adolescent-Cynicism), were used to predict recidivism for adjudicated minors. For the purposes of this study, recidi-vism was defi ned by legal charges, excluding detainment. Participants included 107 males, ages 12-17 (x = 14.5 sd = 1.25), with the following ethnic representa