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MMPI®-2 Structural Summary

Roger L. Greene, PhD, and David S. Nichols, PhD

Purpose:
Organizes and orders MMPI-2 observations within six major content categories
Format:
Paper and pencil, E-Manual
Age range:
18 years to 84 years
Time:
15–20 minutes; 30 minutes to score
Qualification level:
C
C
All qualifications for Level B plus an advanced professional degree that provides appropriate training in the administration and interpretation of psychological tests, or license or certification from an agency that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethical and competent use of psychological tests. Close

The MMPI-2 Structural Summary provides a convenient system for collecting related information in new ways and facilitates comparisons of relationships between MMPI-2 scales to derive a more complete picture of the individual. This easy-to-use 8-page form assists the clinician in three important ways:

  • Helps to organize and order MMPI-2 observations within six major content categories, capturing themes across scales.
  • Facilitates generation of interpretive hypotheses, and is particularly helpful for interpreting atypical profiles.
  • Provides a convenient outline for the preparation of psychodiagnostic reports.

The clinician enters scored scales and indices from a completed MMPI-2 administration into the appropriate blanks provided under the six major sections:

  • Test-Taking Attitudes
  • Cognitions
  • Factor Scales
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Moods
  • Other Problem Areas

Each of the six major sections contains between two and 11 subsections. The categories selected for the MMPI-2 Structural Summary are those that surface repeatedly in clinical discussions across all the mental health professions. This is a structural summary; most of its categories reflect known dimensions of variation within the total MMPI-2 item pool. Categories are composed of scales with relatively high intercorrelations and high similarity of item content. By contrast, relations between scales and indices in different categories generally reflect lower correlations and more dissimilar item content.

The MMPI-2 Structural Summary Interpretive Manual provides an overview of the development and validation of the Structural Summary, as well as practical information on its use in clinical settings. A number of case studies are presented to demonstrate the clinical utility of this new form. The manual also discusses the relevance of a number of newly developed scales within each of the major categories.