Development of a scale to assess HwaByung, a Korean cultural-bound syndrome, using the Korean MMPI-2

Abstract This study documents the development of an MMPI-2 scale designed to assess features of the Korean culture-bound syndrome, Hwa-Byung (HB). An American research team and psychiatric practitioners in Korea created an 18-item HB scale via rational item selection and psycho-metric refinement. Principal components analysis of scale items revealed four components, reflecting content domains of general health, gastro-intestinal symptoms, hopelessness, and anger. This four-component solution applied well to both Korean men and women, but not to an American sample. Although some findings were encouraging, future studies employ-ing clinical samples are needed to provide further validation of this scale. Key words culture-bound syndrome • Hwa-Byung • Korean MMPI-2 • personality assessment • scale development Koreans are one of the most rapidly increasing immigrant groups in th