Abstract
1895 There is some evidence that hostility is associated with the onset of coronary heart disease as well as all-cause mortality, but this finding has not been confirmed in some studies. One possible explanation for these equivocal findings has been the general failure to employ measures of response distortion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hostility, as measured by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, and the four validity scales of the MMPI. A random sample of 100 athletes was selected from a large database and individuals were classified as scoring high or low on hostility. A discriminant function analysis was performed on these data using the MMPI validity scales (?,L,F,K) as predictor variables. A number of models based on these validity scales yielded an average prediction rate (PR) of 94%, and the K scale alone was accurate in predicting hostility scores 93% of the time. The resulting prediction formula was cross-validated on an independent random sample of 100 athletes (PR=96%). These results were replicated with two random samples (N1=100; N2=100) of non-athletes, and these replications yielded PRs of 92% and 93% respectively. It is concluded that hostility, as measured by the MMPI Cook-Medley Scale, is influenced to a substantial degree by response distortion, and investigators should take this into account when evaluating the influence of hostility on morbidity and mortality.
Published Version
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