Assessing Internalizing Disorders with the MMPI-A-RF: Clinical Correlates of Internalizing Scales in an Adolescent Inpatient Sample

This study explored the clinical correlates and convergent and discriminant validity of internalizing scales on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- Adolescent-Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF; Archer, Handel, Ben-Porath, & Tellegen, 2016) in comparison to depression and anxiety scales on the Personality Assessment Inventory — Adolescent (PAI-A), Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI), and Hopkins Psychiatric Rating Scales (HPRS). Much of the previous literature on the Restructured Clinical (RC) scales has focused on adult populations and many findings have not been validated for children and adolescents. This study specifically focused on the MMPI-ARF internalizing scales: RCd (demoralization), RC2 (low positive emotions), and RC7 (dysfunctional negative emotions). The current study aimed to provide further research on the RC scales in relation to adolescents. The sample included 603 adolescents, ages 13 to 18, who were referred for psychological evaluation in an inpatient hospital setting. The findings indicate that correlations on self-report measures and therapist ratings suggest that RCd, RC2, and RC7 have adequate convergent validity. Contrary to previous literature, discriminant validity was not supported on therapist rating scales and was inconsistently supported on self-report measures. Convergent and discriminant validity was only founded for RC2 and depression variables versus RC2 and unrelated variables, suggesting that RC2 was able to adequately distinguish between depression variables and unrelated variables, but was unable to differentiate between depression variables and anxiety variables. Further findings are discussed relative to construct validity in the MMPI-A-RF internalizing scales