Examination of the MMPI-A for the Assessment of Psychopathy in Incarcerated Adolescent Male Offenders

Abstract

The usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) for classifying adolescent offenders based on psychopathy was investigated with 101 male juvenile delinquents committed to a state training school. It was hypothesized that MMPI-A scales could indicate psychopathy as classified by Hare's Psychopathy ChecklistRevised (PCL-R). Using two-group discriminant function analysis on 15 MMPI-A scales to predict psychopathy as measured by the PCL-R, the results indicated that although statistically the MMPI-A may be usefulfor the prediction ofpsychopathy in a population of chronic, severe, juvenile offenders, practically there are no significant differences between MMPI-A scores of psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. Further, there is some question concerning the ability of the MMPI-A to differentiate chronic delinquents from "normal" adolescents.