Abstract
The MMPI-2 is commonly used in the psychological assessment of parents within child custody evaluations. Due to the interface of mental health practitioners with non-mental-health professionals in the context of child custody cases, careful attention must be paid to the potential misunderstanding or misuse of data from psychological testing. While traditional clinical lore has maintained an expectation of clinically significant defensiveness on the MMPI-2 with this population, the research data does not support this view. Despite empirical findings that identify patterns of elevations on the MMPI-2 validity scales with parents involved in child custody disputes, these patterns have been demonstrated to reach statistical but not clinical significance. That is, MMPI-2 profiles that contain elevations on scales L or K that either invalidate or notably suppress clinical scales are not to be expected in the child custody population. False causal attributions contributing to the potential mischaracterization or loss of important data related to personality functioning within this population are identified and discussed. Potential dangers associated with such false causal attributions are reviewed.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.