The authors of this meta-analysis concluded that FBS differentiated groups as well as, and was at times superior, to other MMPI-2 validity scales, including all of F-family scales that assess psychopathology. A meta-analysis of FBS was completed in 2006 ( Nelson, Sweet, & Demakis, 2006), and it was updated in 2010 ( Nelson, Hoelzle, Sweet, Arbisi, & Demakis, 2010). Items were selected that were thought to assess simultaneously exaggerated post-injury distress and under-reporting of pre-incident personality problems. The items on this scale were selected “rationally on a content basis using unpublished frequency counts of malingerers’ MMPI test responses and observations of personal injury malingerers” ( Lees-Haley, English, & Glenn, 1991 p. Because HHI performed the best in many respects in this sample, it is included in the current research.įBS was the first CS-SVT adopted by the publisher of the MMPI-2. Jones and Ingram (2011) demonstrated that in a military sample FBS, RBS, and FBS-r, and HHI performed better than the MMPI-2 F-family of scales assessing psychopathology in predicting performance credibility on neurocognitive tests. Neither the HHI nor the HHI-r have been adopted by the publisher of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF. 15 items), was recently developed for the MMPI-2-RF ( Henry, Heilbronner, Algina, & Kaya, 2013). The MMPI-2-RF also includes a scale specifically designed to assess over-reporting of somatic complaints, the Infrequent Somatic Responses scale (Fs).Īnother C-S SVT, the Henry–Heilbronner Index (HHI Henry, Heilbronner, Mittenberg, & Enders, 2006) was developed for the MMPI-2, and a revised but shorter version, the HHI-r (11 vs. The MMPI-2-RF revised version of the MMPI-2 FBS (FBS-r) retains 30 of the original 43 FBS items. The C-S SVTs on the MMPI-2 include the Fake Bad Scale (FBS Lees-Haley, English, & Glenn, 1991), now named the Symptom Validity Scale, and the Response Bias Scale (RBS Gervais, Ben-Porath, Wygant, & Green, 2007). The scales that assess non-credible reporting of psychopathology or emotional distress include the MMPI-2 Infrequency (F), Back F (F B) scale, and the Infrequency Psychopathology (F P) scale and the corresponding MMPI-2-RF scales (F-r and F P-r). The purpose of this research is to examine cutoffs that may be useful for diagnosing psychometrically determined malingering at three levels (Probable, Probable to Definite, and Definite ) and a group that combines all malingering groups (CM).
Cutoff scores have clinical utility and have been established in a variety of settings for the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Cognitive-Somatic SVTs (C-S SVTs), but no research has specifically addressed cutoffs to predict malingering for these scales in a military sample. Because of the differences in content and apparent superiority of the cognitive-somatic scales in the context of neuropsychological evaluations, additional research is indicated with application in a military sample. Results of a principal component analysis in a military sample by Jones and Ingram (2011) also indicate that the Cognitive-Somatic Validity Scales and validity scales related to psychopathology load on distinctly different components. Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) and the related but restructured set of scales on the MMPI-2-RF ( Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008). There is a body of evidence ( Nelson, Sweet, & Heilbronner, 2007 Gervais, Ben-Porath, Wygant, & Green, 2008 Whitney, Davis, Shepard, & Herman 2008 Gervais, Ben-Porath, Wygant, Green, & Sellbom, 2010 Nelson, Hoelzle, Sweet, Arbisi, & Demakis, 2010 Jones & Ingram, 2011 Youngjohn, Wershba, Stevenson, Sturgeon, & Thomas, 2011 Peck et al., 2013) that demonstrates Symptom Validity Tests (SVTs) specifically designed to assess the validity or credibility of self-reported cognitive and/or somatic symptoms perform better in a variety of clinical and forensic settings than the validity scales that assess over-reporting of emotional distress or psychopathology on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality-2 (MMPI-2 Butcher, Dahlstrom. MMPI-2, MMPI-2-R, Malingering, Military, Symptom validity Introduction