Use of the MMPI to assess the construct validity of the revised Social Anhedonia Scale as an index of schizotypy.

Abstract

We evaluated the construct validity of the revised Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS; Mishlove & Chapman, 1985) through an examination of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles produced by extreme scorers on the SAS. The MMPI classification strategy employed by Moldin, Gottesman, and Erlenmeyer-Kimling (1987) was used to group profiles with regard to their specificity to schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Of 1,124 college students, 58 females and 60 males had elevated SAS scores. Thirty-five percent of the males and 24.14% of the females produced MMPI profiles within the Moldin et al. classification scheme. Another 27.59% of females and 23.33% of males had profiles that are sometimes associated with schizotypal attributes. Thus, 41.67% of high-SAS males and 48.28% of high-SAS females have MMPI profiles that are unlikely to be associated with a heightened risk for schizophrenia. Because only a subset of socially anhedonic subjects produced schizophrenia spectrum MMPI profiles, it appears that the SAS, in isolation, should not be used to identify individuals at risk for schizophrenia. The revised SAS, like its predecessor, does not appear uniquely related to the schizophrenia spectrum. Unlike Mishlove and Chapman (1985), we did not find a gender difference among subjects.