Associations Among the MCMI-II Clinical Syndrome Scales and the MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

Abstract

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory—II (MCMI-II), a frequently used self-report measure of psychopathology, contains nine scales designed to assess Axis I psychopathology (the clinical syndrome and severe syndrome scales). This study explored the relationships among these nine MCMI-II clinical syndrome scales and the clinical scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2). A sample of 108 psychiatric inpatients was administered both the MCMI-II and the MMPI-2 within 7 days of admission. Pearson correlation coefficients and principal component factors were obtained for the MCMI-II and MMPI-2 scales. The results provided support for the convergent validity of all the MCMI-II Axis I scales. However, the majority of the MCMI-II scales failed to demonstrate adequate discriminant validity in relation to the MMPI-2 scales. The principal component analysis revealed that method variance was the principal influence in determining factor loadings for the majority of test scales. This finding suggests that these two popular self-report tests differ substantially in how they measure psychopathology.